Not a Single Word
by TheGirlWhoRemembers
Summary: "You ever gonna tell him, Ri?" "It doesn't matter anymore." Bozer, FBI forensic accountant, falls unbelievably hard and fast for his co-worker Leanna, whom he believes rescued him from a terrible situation. Riley, Mac and Jack, being great friends, are supportive…despite how fast they're moving. "You're getting married?" How many things is Bozer mistaken about?
1. Chapter 1

AN: Hello! Welcome to the 3rd of my _MacGyver_ fairytales (yeah, I don't know where they came from either – and there are two more running around my head right now, so we'll see what happens next!). This one is a re-telling of _The Little Mermaid._ It's more of a re-telling than _Give Your Heart a Chance_ was of _Cinderella,_ but less than _The Stone-Hearted Queen_ was of _Beauty and the Beast._ The title comes from _Kiss the Girl_ from Disney's _The Little Mermaid._

This story is complete, I'm sorry it took me so long to write – lab work is exhausting, and my science is not working particularly well right now (you know, I used to think that Mac only let his science 'breathe' when he was at MIT because he wanted to spend more time with Frankie and play her lab assistant, but now I'm thinking that part of it was he really did need to let his science 'breathe'…that's practically word-for-word what a couple of the senior lab members like to say!), and I'm not sure if it's as good as my previous two stories in this series. There's probably more typos and the like, since I haven't got the time/energy to proof-read as much as I usually did. Still, I hope you enjoy it!

* * *

 **MACGYVER'S RESIDENCE**

 **LA**

* * *

Wilt Bozer, FBI forensic accountant extraordinaire by day, amateur filmmaker by night (and by weekend), straightened his waistcoat, adjusted his hat so that it was on the perfect jaunty angle, rolled his left shirt cuff a tiny bit more up his forearm so that it matched the right one and double-checked that his two-tone saddle shoes were nice and shiny, and then, after practicing a suave smirk in the mirror, walked out of his bedroom, into the living room.

His roommate and BFF-since-they-were-nine-and-eleven, Angus MacGyver, former Army EOD turned JPL engineer and crazy-mad-scientist-genius-puppy, was sitting on the couch, the coffee table in front of him littered with his laptop, a notebook and four pens, several potatoes, a brand-new second-hand toaster that he'd bought last week at Mrs-Patel-from-two-doors-down's garage sale, four cut-in-half tennis balls, two prisms from his collection, a packet of pretzels, several other doodads that Bozer didn't recognize, and the usual bowl of paperclips.

Mac tossed a couple of pretzels in his mouth, then picked up a potato and half a tennis ball as he chewed, as Bozer shook his head, something fond in his eyes.

'Sure you don't wanna come out with us, bro?'

He was going clubbing with some of his co-workers, plus an agent named Leanna Martin who was on temporary assignment from the San Francisco office, and Riley Davis, Mac's JPL co-worker who'd wound up at JPL after following an even more unconventional path than Mac (which was really saying something, since Mac had dropped out of MIT to disarm bombs for a living, choosing to solve real problems to save lives than to continue to solve theoretical problems as a student).

(Riley's path involved a black-hat past, an awful, near-disastrous run-in with an extremely nasty hacker group called The Collective, getting deliberately caught while hacking the NSA after they'd threatened her mom, and spending two years in prison. She'd gotten out when a District Attorney named Patricia Thornton had stumbled upon her case while taking down The Collective, and gotten Riley a parole deal. Ever since, Riley had gone straight and become a JPL software engineer and white-hat.)

(She and Mac had become friends after collaborating on a project, and the rest was history.)

(History that Bozer fully intended on using as inspiration for a movie one day – he had about a quarter of a script done.)

(Seriously, it was like something out of a movie or a TV show. Riley's mom's ex-boyfriend, the closest thing she'd ever had to a father, had happened to be Jack Dalton, ex-Delta Force, now a mechanic and owner of Dalton Auto Repair, Mac's partner in their unit in Afghanistan, and Bozer's BFF's other BFF and surrogate father-figure.)

(Obviously, there'd be some tension between her and Jack for a while, but they were all good now.)

Mac shook his head, swallowing his mouthful of pretzels.

'No thanks, I'm good, Boze.' He gestured to his laptop (there was a video on it that seemed to be about making potato cars), then to the assorted stuff on the coffee table. 'I've got a whole queue of YouTube videos I want to watch, and I've got a couple of project ideas…'

He trailed off as his eyes got caught on a particular metal thingamajig, his whole face lit up, and he seized the thingy and pulled his Swiss Army knife from his pocket.

Very much recognizing that look on his best friend's face, and realizing that Mac's attention was now very much elsewhere (when he was caught up in an idea, Mac tended to forget about things like societal convention and manners, such as asking for permission to use or fix or improve other people's things, and sometimes even forgot to explain what in the world he was doing, which was almost-always necessary because it looked _really, really_ weird), Bozer shook his head with affectionate exasperation and checked his hat one last time in one of the several mirrors from Mac's not-unsubstantial collection (his BFF wasn't a narcissist or excessively vain or anything like that - Bozer was pretty sure Mac really didn't look at himself in the mirror much, or it'd actually be possible to convince him of the fact that he was _really_ good-looking and bore a distinct resemblance to that actor from the _X-Men_ reboots with a large following of fangirls; the mirrors were for science purposes), that, for reasons probably known only to Mac, were scattered around their living and dining rooms, plus the kitchen.

As he straightened up, satisfied with his hat, the front door opened, and in stepped Riley (who'd been given a key and told she didn't have to knock over a year ago), wearing a shiny, slinky, silver skirt with a matching top that showed a little sliver of her stomach, with matching heels and bling.

Bozer grinned, and pointed at her with a finger-gun.

'You look _amazing_.'

(He admitted to checking her out a little.)

(What?)

(He was very much single, and Riley was really, really hot, and all-round attractive, too. She was brilliant and so very strong – she'd gone to _prison_ for her mom, survived things that would have given Bozer nightmares for months, and come out even stronger for it – and awesomely sassy and snarky and confident, she had great style and was kick-ass at video games and CGI and loved burgers almost as much as he did, and she loved fiercely and protectively and deeply.)

(He admitted that it was very much physical at first – he'd called her his 'future girlfriend' at their very first meeting, which really wasn't one of his best moments.)

(In fact, the first eight or so months of their friendship had had several of his definitely-not-the-best moments.)

(He'd let his hopes about what they could be get in the way of what they were. He'd totally deserved and needed that kick up the ass that Jack had given him when Riley had started texting Kalei, a Hawaii-based fellow hacker whom she'd met at a conference JPL had sent her on.)

(Riley and Kalei's brief thing hadn't lasted, but Riley and Bozer's slightly-different and very-much-improved friendship had.)

(Even though Bozer did have the occasional backslide.)

(Riley was okay with that, because she knew that he was genuinely trying – old habits died hard, and some of the kinda-creepy and somewhat inappropriate stuff was just _Bozer_ anyway – and that his heart was in the right place.)

(So, yes, Bozer admitted to checking her out a little, but he definitely wasn't going to try and pull any moves on her, absolutely, definitely not.)

(Their friendship came first, and it was far, far too valuable to risk. For anything.)

Riley smiled right back, leaning against the doorframe and appraising his outfit, before giving a nod, her smile widening a little.

'Not bad yourself.'

Bozer preened, and Riley rolled her eyes with fond exasperation, reaching out to sock him in the arm affectionately, then called out to Mac, who was now screwing the metal thingamajig, which had been attached to a piece of toaster using a couple of paperclips, into a potato.

'Staying in?' Mac nodded, not really able to speak around the paperclip hanging from his mouth, and Riley smirked teasingly, crossing her arms. 'You're spending too much time with Jack, Mac.'

Bozer picked up the thread, smirking mischievously and mirroring Riley's posture.

'His old-man-ness is rubbing off on you!'

Mac rolled his eyes, pulling the paperclip out of his mouth and pushing it through the hole he'd just cut into one of the tennis ball halves using his Swiss Army knife.

'A, I dare you to say that to Jack.' It'd spark, at the very least, tit-for-tat affectionate digs, and he calculated that there'd be a roughly 20% chance of it starting a prank war. 'And I'd like to point out that, B, I am younger than both of you, and C…' His face screwed up a little in concentration. '…spend, on average, by my best estimation, only about an hour more with Jack than you, Boze, and Riley, we're pretty much even.'

Riley and Bozer both snorted.

'You're only as old as you feel, Mac. Or act.'

'Or dress.'

Bozer gestured pointedly at Mac's outfit, which, like it did very frequently, consisted of a pair of chinos (today's were beige – they were always navy, olive, brown, beige or grey, never anything _interesting_ like red or purple), a button-down shirt (in a similarly boringly-neutral and conservative colour; burgundy was as adventurous as Mac got, fashion-wise) and his favourite brown leather jacket.

(He and Riley were firmly in agreement that Mac dressed like a grandpa, probably because he dressed like his actual grandpa.)

(The blonde always turned down their offers for a makeover, generally with something along the lines of _uh, thanks for the offer, but I'm good._ )

(He was also far too smart for them to _trick_ into a makeover, such as by making him lose a bet.)

(Bozer hadn't managed to make his BFF lose a bet since he was sixteen and Mac was fourteen and he'd made Mac lose a bet so he'd had to ask Darlene Martin to Prom.)

Mac shook his head, now attaching the tennis ball half hanging from the paperclip to the potato that had bits of metal sticking out of it.

'Have fun, you two.'

Riley and Bozer exchanged a glance and a grin.

'Oh, we will.'

'See you later, Mac. Don't wait up!'

As Bozer and Riley headed out the door, Mac grabbed a second potato.

 _Yeah, I know, it's kinda sad and lame. I'm twenty-six years old and I'm staying in with a queue of nerdy YouTube videos and a couple of my latest science projects instead of going out clubbing with my friends._

 _But clubs really aren't my scene._

 _And trust me, I'm already not much of a dancer, and next to Bozer and Riley, I look like an elephant with four left feet._

 _And I'm definitely a nerd, but…playing mad scientist beats out just about anything else._

* * *

 **CLUB POPULAR WITH HIP YOUNG THINGS**

 **(SO BOZER AND RILEY'S SCENE)**

 **(NOT MAC'S)**

 **(AND DEFINITELY NOT JACK'S)**

 **LA**

* * *

Bozer grinned as he, four shot glasses in hand, walked over to the table their group had claimed, passing a drink to Riley, his co-worker, forensic computer analyst Jill Morgan (Lil to her closest friends, apparently), and Leanna, taking the fourth for himself.

All three women grinned back at him, something a bit closer to a smirk in Riley and Leanna's expressions. Riley reached out and put an arm around his shoulders, pulling him into a side-hug in thanks for buying this round. Then, the four of them, arranged into a rough circle, raised their shot glasses, clinked them together in a toast, then downed the whiskey.

When the burn faded, Bozer smirked and gestured at the packed dancefloor, already starting to bop along to the beat.

'Come on, ladies!' He adjusted his waistcoat, tucking his thumbs into the front. 'After all, couldn't deprive you of the chance to see my moves!' He pointed at Riley. 'You better put this on Instagram; you're all gonna wanna say you were here tonight!'

Riley snorted, rolled her eyes and punched him in the arm with _very_ exasperated fondness, while Leanna simply arched a sceptical eyebrow and crossed her arms, and Jill nodded slowly, her own brows raised.

Bozer decided the best way to prove his point was just to show it, and with a _just watch me_ gesture, he headed out onto the dancefloor, grooving towards where he spotted Cal from Cartography.

* * *

Bozer, standing at the bar, nodded in thanks and paid the bartender, taking his beer with a smile. He leaned back against the bar for a moment, sipping his drink, waving to Riley, who was dancing enthusiastically and excellently with Leanna (who was almost as enthusiastic and almost as amazing) and Jill (who looked a little more awkward, but was clearly having a lot of fun – she was laughing loudly). She grinned back, and then, as the song changed to _Uptown Funk,_ she gestured to him to come and dance, but he lifted a shoulder, holding up his drink, affecting an exaggeratedly-sad expression, even pretending to trace a tear down his cheek with a finger. Riley shook her head with a snort of laughter, but let Leanna pull her further into the crowd of people on the dancefloor.

On the fourth 'Hot damn!', a woman wearing very high heels stumbled and nearly fell in front of Bozer, and he reflexively put down his drink at the bar, reaching out to help her catch her balance.

'You alright?'

He studied her face, looking for any signs that she was overly intoxicated or (he gave an internal shudder of revulsion and felt a little rush of righteous anger) had been drugged.

But her pupils and expression seemed normal, and she didn't look any more flushed than one would expect from the exertion of dancing and the embarrassment of tripping over on thin air, so he relaxed as she smiled at him.

'Yeah, I'm okay, thanks.'

Satisfied that this damsel-in-distress had been rescued, Bozer just grinned and gave an exaggerated little bow, as the woman smiled a little wider, gave a little laugh, and then walked off to join her friends.

Bozer leaned back against the bar and picked up his drink again.

* * *

Riley grinned at Jill and Leanna as the song ended, then with a gesture of her head towards their table (where Cal and a couple of his friends were chatting and minding everyone's drinks), headed over, leaned on the table, and looked around for Bozer.

( _Uptown Funk_ had been six songs ago, and he hadn't made his way onto the dancefloor, even when Beyoncé had started to play.)

(She wasn't _that_ worried; chances were, Bozer was trying to impress a woman…hopefully without those lines he'd tried on her.)

(Some of them were a touch creepy. And being overly persistent was definitely more than a touch creepy.)

(Riley knew that he knew that, but old habits died hard.)

(Besides, the real Bozer – who was, admittedly, still a little inappropriate at times and fond of cheesy, corny or just plain weird quips – was heaps better than 'trying to impress a woman' Bozer. He was funny and really sweet and kinda cute, and had great taste in video games and movies and even better taste in food.)

She scanned the dancefloor, then the bar, then the other clusters of tables, but she couldn't spot him.

Her heart rate increased, something prickling in the back of her mind. Something worried, something fearful.

(She'd been practically alone, loved no-one, save her mom, for years, and she'd nearly lost her – and it'd been her fault.)

(That was _far_ from being the case now; she had loved ones, she had a family, but even though if something happened to any of them – God forbid – she'd still be far from being alone, the idea of losing any of them was absolutely and utterly abhorrent.)

She stepped slightly away from the table, searching in earnest and thoroughly now, stretching up to get a better view.

Finally, she spotted him, but her relief was short-lived.

Bozer was leaning against the wall, practically hugging it as he staggered along, looking like he was really, really intoxicated (which she knew he wasn't; Bozer definitely liked to drink and have a good time when they went out, but she knew he was pretty good at pacing himself and wouldn't let himself get into this state – besides, he'd been fine six songs ago). Riley immediately started making her way through the throng, towards her friend, as he stumbled, losing his balance and nearly hitting the floor.

Expression growing even more concerned and set as she lost sight of him, Riley pushed more firmly through the crowd.

* * *

Riley pushed open the men's bathroom door, ignoring the shocked voices ('Hey!' 'Wrong door, babe!'), expression very, very grim, set and worried, with a touch of anger.

She'd seen Bozer go in here, and she knew that he absolutely couldn't be alone right now.

(She had a _very, very_ bad feeling what had happened to him.)

(If she could work out who'd done this to him – and she would be able to with very little information – they'd find themselves with, say, their credit history linked to a convicted embezzler or fraudster or thief with a similar name, or signed up to 10,000 spam mailing lists…well, perhaps not.)

(She really did try and stay on the right side of the law – and not take it into her own hands – nowadays.)

(More likely, they'd find themselves reported to the police via anonymous email, detailing all the evidence needed to get a really solid conviction.)

(…Maybe she could do the spam.)

She found him slumped on the floor next to the toilet in one of the cubicles, seemingly heedless of his location…or the smell.

Ignoring that olfactory assault, Riley crouched down next to her friend, whose head was lolling as he stared at the floor. He seemed to make an effort to look up at her, but couldn't quite manage it, instead staring at the vicinity of her knees.

'…Ri…Riley? I…I don't feel so good…like…like that morning after we had that really good vodka…times like…nine hundred…' His speech was really slurred. This absolutely could _not_ be good. Riley pulled out her phone and texted Leanna and Jill. Given that it seemed as if he was going to be dead weight, she'd never be able to get Bozer out of the bathroom on her own. 'Riley…where….where am I?' He made a face. 'It smells icky…kinda…kinda like when Mac was trying to make…whatcha-ma-call-it?'

Tucking two fingers under his chin so that she could get a good look at his eyes, Riley dialled 911 one-handed.

'911, what's your emergency?'

'I need an ambulance; my friend's been drugged…'

As she answered the operator's questions, Riley shifted, taking Bozer's hand and heaving him to his feet, into a mostly-standing position leaning against the wall, then tucked her arm under his armpits to help hold him up.

A moment later, there was another round of shocked and confused voices, and a second after that, the cubicle door opened, revealing a very-worried-looking Jill and Leanna. The blonde reached out and took Riley's phone, holding it for her to free her other hand and telling the operator the address of the club, while Leanna helped Riley manoeuvre Bozer into a position that let both of them put an arm around him to support him.

Riley tightened her arm around the man who was, honestly, probably her best friend for a moment, something plaintive and vulnerable on her face, in her eyes, in her voice for a beat, before it was rearranged into reassurance.

'Let's get you out of here, Boze. You're gonna be okay, we're getting you help…'

* * *

 **CHMC-LA**

 **LA**

* * *

Mac parked his car in the hospital carpark, then rushed out, towards the hospital entry.

He'd received a rather frantic (or, at least, as frantic as Riley ever was – she wasn't one prone to blind panic, knowing full well that panicking didn't help) and extremely concerned phone call from Riley, telling him that Bozer had been drugged and was being taken to hospital by ambulance.

Of course, Mac had immediately abandoned his YouTube videos and the three projects he had going, and gotten to CHMC-LA ASAP.

Just outside the entryway, he almost-literally ran into Jack and Diane, who looked just as worried as Mac felt.

(He also noted that both of them were rather dressed up, as if they'd had dinner in a nice-but-not-fancy restaurant. The sort of place you'd go for a date. Jack was wearing very nice jeans and a button-down shirt with his smartest and least-beaten-up leather jacket, while Diane had a very stylish little black dress on with plenty of bold gold jewellery)

(He pushed aside the inevitable conclusion – after all, there'd been talk of second chances and Diane had even _kissed_ Jack at poker night the week before, and after that charades night the week before that, Jack _had_ started rambling a little about how Diane was jumping around in his head. And Bozer and Riley _did_ seem to be plotting something – or, more accurately, Riley was plotting something and had convinced Bozer to help her; Riley _had_ invited her mom to charades night, after all, and he was pretty sure it wasn't _just_ because Diane had just moved back to LA.)

(Sure, Jack hadn't mentioned anything about going on a date, let alone with Diane, but Mac couldn't blame the maybe-couple for wanting to keep this between themselves for now.)

(With their history, and how much Jack valued his renewed relationship with Riley – he'd needed Mac's encouragement after charades night to decide that he should at least see if Diane would give him a second chance, mostly because he feared screwing it up again and losing Riley again – and the fact that he, Riley and Bozer were definitely rooting for them, perhaps a little too strongly – Bozer didn't do subtle, Riley wanted them to get together again almost as much as those kids from _The Parent Trap,_ and Mac wasn't trying to push too hard, but he wasn't the best at social interaction – it made perfect sense to him.)

Riley met them inside, still in her silvery skirt and top, but with a hospital blanket wrapped around her shoulders, looking just as worried (or possibly even more so) than Mac felt, and also a little guilty.

Wordlessly, Diane pulled her daughter into a very quick but very tender, comforting hug, pressing a quick kiss to the top of Riley's head. As Riley led them to Bozer's bedside, Jack put an arm around the young woman's shoulders, ducking his head a little to say something into her ear.

Mac's keen hearing picked up something that sounded very much like _hey, it's not your fault, kiddo._

(A sentiment he agreed with wholeheartedly.)

 _Of course I know you're supposed to look after and look out for your friends when you go out._

 _Actually, that is a sentiment that should apply to life in general, not just in clubs and bars, but you get the point._

 _But you can't protect the people you love from anything and everything._

 _You can only try. Do the best job you can._

 _And that has to be enough._

 _Even though sometimes it doesn't feel like it._

* * *

Bozer was lying in a hospital bed, eyes closed and seemingly unconscious, apart from the fact that he occasionally muttered very slurred, hardly discernible words.

(Mac picked up something to do with Bruce Willis and _Sharknado,_ as well as something that _might_ have had to do with Kobe beef and Gouda.)

A nurse was checking his vitals, and the man nodded, seemingly satisfied, and made a note on Bozer's chart, just as a young, brunette woman in a doctor's coat approached Bozer's bed.

She clearly recognized Riley, and glanced quickly at Mac, Jack and Diane before turning to her, a question in her eyes.

'They're family.'

The hacker spoke very resolutely, almost as if she was daring the doctor to say otherwise.

To her credit, the doctor (Dr Taylor, according to her nametag), simply nodded in acceptance, taking Bozer's chart and making a note on it.

'I just got the tox screen results; it's definitely Flunitrazepam.' She offered them a smile that was very reassuring-doctor, somehow professional but warm. 'He's going to be fine. We're keeping him overnight for observation, but he'll be discharged tomorrow morning.' She replaced Bozer's chart. 'Does he live alone, or…?'

Mac shook himself out of what was best described as relieved stupor (he'd just discovered that he didn't cope very well with the idea of Bozer in any kind of danger, coped with it worse than he would if it was, say, Jack, in this situation, which he supposed had to be attributed to the particulars of their relationship – he had, after all, met and befriended Jack in a warzone and the two of them had been shot at often, nearly blown up almost as often and, essentially, nearly died more than a dozen times, while he and Bozer had met and become friends as kids at school, where the biggest danger was Donnie Sandoz and his friends).

'We're roommates.'

Dr Taylor nodded, and her next words were primarily addressed to him.

'You'll need to keep an eye on him for the twelve hours or so after discharge. He's going to have balance issues, impaired cognitive functions and there might be some vomiting.' Something wry, a touch of that finding-light-in-the-darkness humour that'd gotten Mac, Jack and their squad through some terrible times, crossed her face. 'It'll probably be like the worst hangover of his life.'

A wry little smile appeared on Mac's face.

'And acetaldehyde dehydrogenase won't help.'

There was a flicker of something surprised across the doctor's face for a moment, before she nodded with a smile, a smile that seemed to be more, for lack of a better word, _genuine_ that her earlier doctor-y smile (genuine wasn't a very good term; her earlier doctor-y smile had seemed very real too, but this smile seemed to be the one that she might wear off-duty).

'No, no it won't.' Her expression returned to that caring professionalism again. 'It is also likely that he won't remember much, if anything at all, from tonight after he was drugged.'

* * *

AN: How was that? Did you guys like my re-telling of the 'rescue' from _The Little Mermaid?_ Or mad-scientist-homebody!Mac? Did I lay the ~foreshadowing~ on too heavy at the end there? :P

Updates will be every third day.


	2. Chapter 2

**MACGYVER'S RESIDENCE**

 **LA**

* * *

 _He was sitting on the floor…but where he was, he didn't know…he felt like his head was stuffed full of cotton wool…he couldn't think, couldn't really move, his whole body felt heavy…_

 _And then…fingers that were soft and cool but warm at the same time were tucked under his chin, and he tried to lean into that touch, but his body wouldn't cooperate…_

 _The fingers left his chin, and he mourned their loss, though he couldn't fathom as to why…_

 _But then, the hand took his, and even though he couldn't really see properly or move his head or even his eyeballs, and the lighting here, wherever here was, was awful, the image of a hand, somewhere between deep tan and light brown, with beautifully-manicured fingernails with a shimmery metallic polish on them seared itself into his mind…_

* * *

Bozer woke up, the vestiges of his dream fading quickly as his consciousness returned.

However, the image of the hand, his saviour's hand, remained.

The forensic accountant shook his head and got out of bed, padding to the door of his bedroom.

He smiled as he opened the door.

He could smell breakfast from here.

He knew it would be _delicious._

His roomie was the best BFF and best landlord ever.

* * *

 **FBI OFFICES**

 **LA**

* * *

'Good to see you back to full capacity, Bozer.'

The forensic accountant's very short and very scary boss seemed to literally materialize at his desk on his first full day back at work. Bozer gave a very unmanly yelp and half-jumped out of his seat. He stuttered out a reply as he caught his breath.

'Great…great to be back, Matty.'

Matty smiled in a way that Bozer swore was amused in a fond, teasing sort of way, before her expression grew more serious.

'You did a great job on the Chrysalis case.' A senior secretary in the D.A.'s office had been selling confidential information and taking bribes. She'd attempted to set up D.A. Patricia Thornton, but thanks to some excellent forensic accounting by Bozer, she hadn't gotten away with it. 'The San Fran office is investigating a series of what might be leaks from their D.A.'s office, and we think the cases might be linked, so I'm sending you to San Francisco to help with the investigation. You'll be working with Agent Leanna Martin; you remember her, right? She was here just last week.'

The way that Matty said it made it quite clear that she definitely knew who he'd been out clubbing with that fateful night.

(How his boss knew everything, Bozer really didn't know.)

Bozer nodded.

'Yeah…we…uh…talked a couple of times, hung out during lunch, got some dinner while working late, that sort of thing…'

(He wasn't going to mention the whiskey shots. Not to his boss.)

Matty nodded in a way that made Bozer think she probably knew about the whiskey shots (and the vodka ones too) anyway.

'Your flight is tomorrow morning.' She took a step back from his desk. 'Don't let me down, Bozer.'

* * *

 **FBI OFFICES**

 **SAN FRANCISCO**

* * *

'…And the breakroom's to your right, down that corridor and then left, and our boss's office is down that corridor dead ahead on the right, and then bathrooms are down that corridor, then left, then left again, and your desk will be in the bullpen to the left, and the vending machines are through that doorway, then left, then left, then right.' The extremely-talkative, curly-haired young man paused for breath and grinned. 'And I think that's everything!'

* * *

Two minutes later, Bozer was searching for his desk, when he, not looking where he was going, literally bumped into a woman in a smart blouse, very well-fitted dress pants and low heels.

The folder of papers he was carrying, plus the folders she had in her hands, all went flying, and he immediately crouched and started gathering them up.

'I'm so, so sorry, I'm just looking for my desk…' Relieved that he was too dark-skinned to blush visibly (what a great first impression…not!), Bozer hastily picked up his own folder, and thrust the other folders out at the poor woman he'd just literally run into, then got up, double-checking that he hadn't lost any of the important documents inside the folder. '…it's on the left here somewhere…'

Flustered, he started walking to the right.

'Your _other_ left.'

The voice was familiar.

Bozer looked at the woman properly for the first time, and immediately recognized Leanna, who had an eyebrow quirked up at him, the tiniest hint of an amused smile on her lips. Bozer perked up instantly, and grinned sheepishly.

'Oh, uh…hi, Leanna.' He glanced at where he was going. 'And…uh, you're right…' He jerked his thumb in the direction he had been heading. 'That's right.'

Her eyebrow rose further, and he swore that that hint of an amused smile widened. She held out her hand for him to shake, a smile appearing on her face in earnest.

'It's good to see you, especially fully recovered.'

Bozer shifted the folder he was holding so that he could shake her hand, smiling right back at her.

'Good to see you too. Thanks for helping me out that night.' His smile turned apologetic. 'Don't think I managed to say thank you then, so…'

Leanna smiled, a note of something teasing slipping into the expression.

'You get a free pass. Since you were drugged and all.'

However, Bozer barely heard what she said, because he was far too busy staring at Leanna's hand.

She had really pretty hands, with light-brown skin, and very well-kept, neatly-manicured fingernails.

They were currently painted a simple and non-ostentatious, work-appropriate nude colour, but he could easily imagine them painted in a shimmery, metallic shade.

In fact, he didn't need to imagine.

He'd seen them painted that shimmery, metallic shade.

He'd known that Leanna had helped to look after him that night at the club, as had Jill and Riley, of course.

(And then, in the hospital, he'd been under the excellent care of Dr Taylor and the other staff, and Riley had stayed at the hospital with him all night, as had Mac, and his BFF had looked after him like a faithful mad-scientist-genius-puppy for several days afterwards.)

But it seemed that she was also his mysterious saviour.

He looked up from her hand, staring at her with something that was probably best described as some sort of stupefied and grateful awe, as if he was seeing her in a new light, seeing her for the first time.

He had always known that Leanna was super-hot.

But the whole 'saviour' thing just added an extra dimension to it.

Meanwhile, Leanna looked up from their joined hands (he'd held on far too long for a handshake), an eyebrow raised.

* * *

 **OUTSIDE BOZER'S HOTEL**

 **SAN FRANCISCO**

* * *

At 7:00 AM the next morning, Bozer found himself outside his hotel, dressed in workout gear, waiting for Leanna.

She had invited him to join her for her morning run, since she said that she had some of her very best ideas on cases while running, and besides, they could grab a quick breakfast afterwards, and she thought, since he was a 'guest' of sorts in town, she should treat him to at least one good meal.

(Bozer had a standing invitation from Mac to join him for his morning runs. He had had such an invitation for years, which he had always politely declined.)

(But he had eagerly accepted Leanna's invitation.)

(She ran at a much more reasonable hour than Mac. Bozer maintained that that half hour of sleep made all the difference.)

(Besides, an invitation was so much more inviting when it came from a beautiful woman who'd saved you from being robbed – the most likely reason he'd been drugged – and possibly from OD'ing, than when it came from your childhood BFF.)

(Bozer knew Mac was really attractive – both inside and out – but he didn't swing that way.)

(He figured his BFF would understand.)

(Mac's weakness for beautiful and intelligent women with plenty of spirit was _obvious.)_

* * *

 **LEANNA'S FAVOURITE RUNNING ROUTE**

 **SAN FRANCISCO**

* * *

'You've got some serious speed there.'

Breathing hard, Leanna turned her head as she ran, giving Bozer a smile. Also panting, he grinned back at her, in a way that was almost a smirk.

'I ran a lot in high school.'

'Track?'

The smirk turned a bit more sheepish.

'Mascot.' He shrugged as they kept running. 'You learn to run pretty fast when the swim team spots you doing the Macarena in a badger suit.' He kind of regretted mentioning that. He was sure that telling a story about how you were kinda a dork in high school was not a good way to impress a girl, but Leanna didn't seem to be judging him or anything like that. 'What about you?' He pointed at her. 'Let me guess. You ran track all through school, probably won State.'

Her smile took on shades of a smirk.

'Twice.' She pulled ahead of him a little, her ponytail swinging. 'Race me to the next set of lights, Mr Badger?'

Bozer grinned.

'All right!'

* * *

 **A SUBURBAN PARK**

 **(NO, REALLY, JUST AN ORDINARY PARK)**

 **SAN FRANCISCO**

* * *

At 9:30 PM at night, the day after their first morning run, Bozer and Leanna ran through the park, watching their sixes.

It'd _started_ out as a perfectly ordinary day.

Leanna had taken Bozer with her to execute a search warrant on the home of a janitor for the D.A.'s office.

(While he was an accountant, Bozer did have some field training, because Matty insisted that everyone in her office – even forensic accountants - have some.)

That had snowballed into some minor B&E, with Bozer using some tricks that Mac had taught him years and years ago (it involved breaking into his uncle's tool shed when they were kids), which had now led to them being pursued by said janitor (who was _really_ armed and definitely working for this mysterious organization responsible for planting moles in law enforcement all over California), Karl Wiessler, running for their lives with a flash drive of very important evidence.

Bozer turned to Leanna as they paused for just a moment to catch their breath and work out a plan.

'Look, he's after me, not you.'

That was mostly true; Bozer had definitely pissed off Wiessler more, and he was the one that'd been spotted, after all.

Leanna shook her head immediately.

'But Bozer-'

(She was the field agent, not him.)

'You'll be safer if we split up. Go get help.'

Leanna shook her head again vehemently.

'I am not splitting up!'

He reached out and put his hands on her upper arms.

'You need to go.'

'Bozer-'

'Listen to me. Just listen.' He gestured in the direction they'd come, presumably towards the very armed and very dangerous not-just-a-janitor. 'If we don't split up, we're both gonna die.'

They heard footsteps, and Bozer shoved the flash drive into Leanna's hands and gave her a little push, urging her to run. With a last, long glance at him, she obeyed, and he waited for Wiessler, ducking behind a convenient tree, taking a deep breath.

'You can do this. Steady hands. Clear eyes. Full of heart. Can't nobody-'

As the footsteps got closer, he waited for his moment, then jumped out from behind the tree and onto Wiessler's back.

The two of them tumbled to the ground, wrestling as Wiessler tried to shoot Bozer, while Bozer tried to disarm his opponent.

* * *

'Hey, baldy!'

Wiessler, his gun recovered, searching for Bozer, whirled around, just as Leanna took a swing at him with a tree branch.

It was a good hit, catching him hard in the nose and causing blood to start dripping. Wiessler wiped his nose and mouth with a cruel grin.

'That was very brave. And very dumb.' He raised his gun. 'Where's your boyfriend?'

'Heads up!'

Bozer dropped down from the tree above Wiessler, landing on him and bringing him to his knees, while Leanna took the opportunity to launch a right hook at his jaw, knocking him out.

The two FBI employees then stared at each other, both breathing hard, still full of adrenaline, still processing what they'd just experienced together, over the unconscious bad guy for a long, long moment, before Bozer broke the silence.

'Did you hit him because he called me your boyfriend?'

* * *

 **NICE BUT NOT FANCY BISTRO**

 **(RECOMMENDED BY BOZER, OF COURSE)**

 **LA**

* * *

Sitting with their knees almost touching under the table (they were sitting at one of those just-big-enough-for-two tables that were clearly meant for couples on dates), Jack and Diane smiled at each other across the table, completely oblivious to the world outside their little bubble.

Jack raised his wine glass.

'Here's to there being no datus interruptus this time.'

(Their second first date had been interrupted by Bozer's hospitalization. Jack was really, really hoping that their second second first date would go without a hitch; otherwise, he really thought that it was a sign that he'd inevitably screw this up, that trying again was a mistake, even though he'd realized that his feelings for Diane had never quite gone away – and were, the more time he spent with her, growing stronger and stronger.)

Diane quirked an eyebrow at him with a fondly exasperated (Jack was sure he wasn't imagining that) little headshake at the term (she was quite sure that wasn't _actually_ Latin), but raised her wine glass to his, clinking them together, one of her little smiles on her face, the ones that seemed oh-so-knowing, like she could see right through you.

'To second chances.'

Jack's smile widened.

* * *

 **BURGER PLACE**

 **(SAN FRAN'S NEXT 'IT' PLACE)**

 **(IT HASN'T BEEN 'DISCOVERED' YET)**

 **SAN FRANCISCO**

* * *

Three days after they'd taken down Wiessler, as she swallowed her mouthful of burger (really amazing, secret-menu burger that you had to know a special code to order), Leanna reached for another of the really incredible loaded onion rings (again, an off-menu item), then turned to Bozer, who was eagerly digging into his own burger.

'Okay, seriously, how'd you know about this place? Or to order these?' She gestured at their food. 'I've never heard of it, and you don't even live here!'

Bozer swallowed his mouthful of food and smirked, leaning close to Leanna as if imparting a secret.

'Why, I'd tell you, Miss Martin, but then I'd have to kill you.'

She gave a little smirk right back, nudging him with her shoulder, then leaning close, so that her lips were only a couple of inches from his ear.

'I came top of my class in interrogation training at the Academy…' Her smirk widened. 'I'm sure I can get it out of you...'

She shifted slightly, so that they were eye-to-eye, faces just a couple of inches apart.

Then, she leaned in just a tiny bit closer, almost as if she was going to kiss him...

Bozer let his eyelids flutter closed…and then, with a teasing, flirty little smile, she pulled away, just a couple of inches, and raised an eyebrow expectantly, that little smile still firmly in place as he opened his eyes.

He shook his head, smiling nonetheless.

'You play dirty.'

Her smile just widened a little, and Bozer found that he had a very, very strong urge to tell Leanna all about his top-secret, anonymous (so that he couldn't be bought) food-and-movies blog, under his creative and awesome code name, movie-magician-n-waffle-wizard.

* * *

 **BAKER BEACH**

 **(IT HAS A REALLY NICE VIEW OF THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE)**

 **(SERIOUSLY, IT'S WAY MORE THAN INSTA-WORTHY)**

 **SAN FRANCISCO**

* * *

'Well…we've already covered lesson number four, Offer Incentives…' As they strolled along the beach, so close together that their sides brushed rather frequently, Bozer gave a wry grin at Leanna's words, which made her give a little smile that was almost a smirk in return. '…and Remove Obstacles.' She stopped in her walking, and Bozer paused too, as she turned a little to face him properly. 'Lesson five is a little more complicated, but it essentially boils down to…' She leaned a little closer. '…following through on an offered incentive to build rapport.'

And then, she kissed him, and they both completely, utterly forgot about any sort of interrogation whatsoever.

* * *

AN: I have been to San Francisco, but only as a very small child. All the descriptions and the like come from Google searches! Apologies to anyone who is actually from there if I've messed something up! How'd you like my adaptation of Bozer and Leanna's time at spy school? Or Jack and Diane's second second first date?

My thoughts on 2.19, Benjamin Franklin + Grey Duffle, can be found in my episode tag for that ep, _With a Capital T._


	3. Chapter 3

AN: It's been a very tough few days in the lab – so many things have gone wrong (some are freak accidents, some are mistakes on my part – I really, really wish I had Mac's brains _and_ luck, but seriously, one day, I'm going to write a story in which he screws up his stoichiometry, or forgets to add a reagent or forgets to account for the dilution factor…with serious consequences, solely out of my annoyance and frustration!) **.** Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this!

* * *

 **MACGYVER'S FAVOURITE APPLIANCES STORE**

 **(YES, HE HAS A FAVOURITE)**

 **LA**

* * *

Mac walked into the toaster aisle. He had no need for a new toaster (there was one toast-making toaster at his and Bozer's – Bozer insisted that there was always one – as well as his pancake-making toaster, and two spares), but he always liked to pop by if he was in the area and see if there were any specials.

(After all, he could always do with another spare toaster.)

(Or a DVD player. Or a blender. Or a vacuum cleaner. Or a rice cooker.)

(And he and the owner had a mutually beneficial arrangement – any appliances that came in under warranty that they couldn't repair, Mac bought for absurdly low prices.)

(Sure, about 50% of the time, he couldn't fix them, but they were great sources of parts.)

There was only one other person in the toaster aisle, a petite woman with long, light-brown hair in a braid, wearing a navy Henley and grey jeans. The woman reached up to grab a boxed toaster, and Mac spoke without thinking.

'Don't get that one; the heating elements deteriorate rapidly; heat output quickly decreases and becomes inconsistent and unpredictable, and the toast ejection mechanism is barely adequate and prone to jamming.'

He realized as he finished speaking exactly what he'd just done and cringed and kicked himself internally.

Jack, Bozer and Riley loved him dearly, he knew that as well and as surely as he knew the Laws of Thermodynamics, but even they didn't always have the patience to put up with the things his crazy brain spat out, and were still weirded out by said things from time to time.

 _Great job, MacGyver, you've just weirded-out a stranger._

The woman turned around, and Mac realized two things.

Firstly, she was really, really, really pretty.

Secondly, he recognized her.

'Dr Taylor?'

The doctor (she really was beautiful; his brain had registered that, dimly, at the hospital that terrible night, but it'd been so far down in his priorities that he hadn't consciously realized) blinked up at him twice in surprise, then gave a little laugh and smiled.

'Hi, Mr MacGyver. And Beth, please; I'm not at work.'

He smiled back.

'Call me Mac, Mr MacGyver was my dad.'

She shifted the toaster box she was holding in her arms into a more comfortable position, smile widening.

'How is Mr Bozer?'

'Back to his best.'

'Good!' There was a slightly-awkward silence for a moment, the two of them just standing there looking at each other, before she reached up to put the poor-quality toaster back. Because of her height (she couldn't have been more than 5'2''), it was a little tricky for her, so he reached out to give her a hand, earning a grateful smile in return. When the box was returned to its proper place, she turned back to him. 'You're very informed about toasters.'

He'd heard words along those lines spoken mockingly, even cruelly, but she said it as if it was a simple observation, with more than a hint of curiosity, even a hint of something _impressed._

His smile took on a touch of a smirk.

'They're my second-favourite household appliance.'

She tilted her head slightly to the left.

'What's your favourite, then?'

'DVD players. Vacuum cleaners are my third-favourite; they're not as versatile as DVD players or toasters, but you can do some pretty awesome things with one.' He shrugged, a little more smirk working its way into his expression. 'Like combining one with a kiddie pool to make a hot tub.'

'On one hand, that _does_ sound awesome…' She sounded like she really, really meant it. Then, she narrowed her eyes at him, putting her hands on her hips. 'On the _other_ hand, I really hope that it's not an electrocution risk…I don't _ever_ want to see Mr Bozer, or you, in my ER ever again.'

Mac chuckled and held up his hands in supplication.

'Hey, I'm an engineer at JPL, I know what I'm doing.'

She raised an eyebrow at him, expression wry.

'I know that _should_ reassure me, but just last week, one of your co-workers wound up in my ER because a weekend science project went wrong…' All Mac could really do in response was give a sheepish little grin, as Beth gestured to the toasters with a hand after shaking her head and muttering something about JPL engineers being terrible patients. 'Do you have a recommendation for me?'

'Do you live alone?' He paused. 'Uh, I'm not a serial killer, and I'm not trying to be creepy, just…'

'You need to know how many pieces of toast I need to be able to make in one go.' Her expression grew wry again. 'And you know, I think I need to point out that a serial killer would probably also say that…'

* * *

 **BOZER'S HOTEL**

 **SAN FRANCISCO**

* * *

Two weeks after Bozer had arrived in San Francisco, Leanna dropped him off at his hotel after another long and highly productive day of work.

They'd had a breakthrough in the case today. Leanna had followed a lead that Bozer's searching through a money trail had gotten them, and with a little help from interrogation expert Samantha Cage, they'd gotten that key intel and evidence on The Organization that they were trying to take down.

(The way Bozer said it made it obvious that it was capitalized.)

'…You were awesome today.'

Leanna put the handbrake on, then turned to him with a little grin.

'So were you.'

Bozer preened exaggeratedly, and Leanna gave a snort of laughter, shaking her head with fond, exasperated amusement.

There was silence for a moment, a not-altogether happy or even comfortable silence, as they both parsed the inevitable.

The elephant in the room.

(Or, more accurately, the car.)

Bozer didn't live in San Fran. He didn't work in San Fran.

He was from LA.

Over 350 miles away.

Eventually, Bozer broke it, saying what neither of them wanted to say.

'Case should be wrapped in a week, a week and a half tops.' He shifted his shoulders. 'Bad guys'll go to jail, and I'll go back to LA…'

He did _not_ sound nearly as happy about that as he should.

Leanna looked into his eyes, her own expression showing that she felt very much the same.

Then, after a moment, she spoke, voice quiet.

'I don't want you to go.'

Leanna was far from shy, and it wasn't, precisely, a _shy_ statement, but there was something soft, vulnerable, maybe confessional there.

Bozer stared at her for a moment, his own eyes soft, emotional, before he gave a slightly-sad-tinged grin.

'Then let's make the most of the time we have.'

He leaned forward, over the centre console, and with a little smirk, Leanna met him in the middle, a hand coming up to cup the back of his head.

* * *

 **BOZER'S HOTEL ROOM**

 **SAN FRANCISCO**

* * *

Bozer broke the kiss to open his hotel room door, then stepped inside. Leanna followed him over the threshold, grabbed the 'Do Not Disturb' sign, put it on the door, and closed it firmly, before pulling him towards her again, so that he was pinning her to the door.

When they broke for air, Bozer pulled away a tiny bit so he had a better view of her face.

'You sure?'

Leanna just smiled, soft and affectionate with a touch of a smirk, with a tiny bit of sadness to it too.

'Yeah. Making the most of what we have, remember?'

* * *

 **LATER…**

* * *

They lay in bed, Leanna's head pillowed on his chest.

Bozer gave a grin-smirk as his breathing calmed again.

'Oh, that was way better than my high school graduation.'

She laughed softly and leaned up to kiss him lightly.

* * *

 **JACK (AND RILEY'S – EVEN IF SHE WON'T ADMIT IT) FAVOURITE SKEEBALL PLACE**

 **(ALSO JACK'S FAVOURITE PIZZA PLACE)**

 **(HE HAS…INTERESTING…TASTE IN PIZZA)**

 **LA**

* * *

'Skeeball?'

Diane elegantly arched an eyebrow at Jack as they walked into the arcade, hand in hand.

He held up his free hand with one of those trademarked (or should be trademarked) Jack Dalton grins.

'Hey, Skeeball's the best!'

That was said completely genuinely.

Diane gave a fond little head-shake, then looked around the place, remembering the times that she, Jack and Riley had shared here.

(Remembering the absurdly wide grin on Jack's face as he held up reams and reams of tickets, which Diane had a sneaking suspicion he hadn't won entirely by skill; Jack's earnest and frankly ridiculous enthusiasm for what Riley had derided as a kids' game had made her daughter give soft little grins when she'd thought no-one was looking, and Diane knew how clever and talented her baby girl had always been, remembering the laughter and the smiles and the quiet – and not-so-quiet – moments that they'd all shared.)

(Remembering how they'd been a _family._ )

(Sure, this was only her and Jack's second fourth date, if the interrupted attempt the night Bozer had been drugged wasn't counted, but Diane had a sneaking suspicion that they were going to be a family again.)

(Jack and Riley already were, and she felt that connection blooming between her and Jack again, almost as if it'd never completely closed.)

(Which, given how her thoughts had turned to Jack Wyatt Dalton a little too much for her peace of mind over their years apart, she thought was probably true.)

Jack led her over to one of the machines, and grabbed a ball, throwing it backwards, landing it in the 50 points hole.

He whooped, as she smiled, and then, he handed her the next ball, clearly expecting her to play.

'I'll buy you ice-cream at that place you loved after…' He waggled the ball in his hand. 'A nice double scoop, tiramisu and toffee…'

Diane shook her head with a soft little smile, then reached out and plucked the ball from his hand.

'You drive a hard bargain, Jack Dalton.'

She tossed the ball and landed it in the 50 points hole too, causing Jack to cheer.

'Oh, yeah! That's my girl!'

* * *

 **NICE (BUT NOT FANCY) RESTAURANT**

 **SAN FRANCISCO**

* * *

On Friday night, three weeks after Bozer had arrived in San Francisco, Bozer and Leanna laughed over dessert. Leanna stole the last bite of chocolate cheesecake, and just gave a little grin when Bozer shot her a _look._

* * *

As they strolled back to Bozer's hotel, hand in hand, Leanna glanced at him as he told her all about the _massive_ case he'd cracked (practically single-handedly) two months ago, complete with a couple of amusing-but-totally-heroic-and-awesome anecdotes. She hesitated for a single beat, then spoke, something soft and a little vulnerable in her voice.

'I know this is really fast, but…' Her smile widened and softened simultaneously. '…I've never felt like _this_ about anyone before.'

It sounded (almost) like a confession. Like three little words. _Those_ three little words.

 _Almost._

Bozer smiled back, equally softly, affectionately.

'Me neither.'

* * *

 **MACGYVER'S RESIDENCE**

 **LA**

* * *

'I can't believe they've cancelled it.' Charlie Robinson, one of Mac's JPL co-workers and a good friend (he and Charlie went way back, to when they'd been EOD techs in Afghanistan and had set a record for most explosives disarmed in a three-month period), gestured with the hand holding his beer as he, Mac, Riley and several of their JPL friends sat around the fire-pit. He took a swig of beer. 'The Korman Challenge was special.'

The Army ran the Korman Challenge, a challenge to create an autonomous military vehicle, every year, had for a decade. JPL always had a team, as did agencies like DARPA and the CIA.

Riley gave a snort.

'I think that's what happens when the creator goes psycho and tries to attack the Pentagon.'

Charlie, Mac and the rest of the rather disappointed engineers (Riley got it; the Korman Challenge was fun, and allowed them to show off and be among people like them for a week, and tapped into their healthy competitive spirits, but she didn't quite share that same disappointment) all nodded in agreement, seeing the obvious logic.

An Asian man a couple of years older than Charlie named Bruce adjusted his glasses, glanced around at a couple of the others, then shot Mac a teasing look.

'Bet you're disappointed, Mac. You're on the team for the first time in five years, and they cancel.'

Another co-worker, Tim, piped up.

'Now you're gonna have to wait for whatever they dream up to replace it to see Allie Winthrop again.'

 _You know, neither Bruce nor Tim was at the Korman Challenge that year._

 _But even engineering nerds like to gossip._

 _Surprisingly more than you'd think, actually._

Mac wasn't completely able to conceal his reaction to the mention of her name, _something_ flickering across his face _,_ a little too complex for Riley to read in that very brief instant that it was there, shifting a little in his seat.

Charlie downed the last of his beer, quite subtly shooting Riley a look, as everyone else seemed oblivious to that _something_ that had crossed Mac's face.

'Hey, I could really go for a refill. Mac, Riley, could you…?'

They were, conveniently, sitting closest to the door, but Riley knew that that wasn't why Charlie had asked the two of them specifically.

With a little nod to Mac's former EOD partner, Riley got up, and Mac followed her into the kitchen, picking up the empty beer bottles.

Riley headed over to the fridge, as Mac put the bottles in the recycling, but didn't open it, instead crossing her arms and cocking her hip.

'Okay, when did you and this Allie Winthrop hook up?'

'What?' Mac's response was too fast, too loud and altogether _far_ too shocked. Riley just raised an eyebrow at him, and after a beat, he sighed. 'Yeah, fine. That happened.' He ran a hand through his hair. 'But it wasn't like that.' There was definitely something pained in his voice now. 'It was a few years ago. It was my first time at the Challenge, my first year back stateside for good. I really liked her. I thought she really liked me.' He sighed. 'Right up until I saw her going through my drone's design specs on my laptop.'

Riley's brows rose again, a hint of righteous, protective anger appearing in her voice and posture.

'She took advantage of your feelings to snoop on your laptop and cheat?'

Mac nodded sadly, running a hand through his hair again.

'Yeah, well, I guess for some people, winning is the only thing that matters.'

Riley reached out and patted his shoulder comfortingly, something sympathetic and sorry in her expression.

Mac's love life was officially terrible.

He'd been shot down cold by Darlene Martin, he and Penny's high school relationship had lasted a grand total of twenty-six days (though they were still very much friends and there were no hard feelings – or awkward lingering feelings - in the slightest), he'd spent two years pining for an older student called Frankie at MIT (whom he still insisted was out of his league; Jack, who'd actually met her – it was a _really_ long story – had told Riley and Bozer that that was really not the case, but they all knew that changing Mac's mind when he'd so stubbornly made it up was nigh impossible), and then, Riley now knew that Allie had happened, which really made the end of Mac's next relationship with Google software engineer Nikki Carpenter far, far worse (she'd cheated on him and lied to him about it for months). After that, there'd been a handful of first and second dates (and one third) with several women he'd met online (Riley only recalled the name of the woman whom Mac had gone on three dates with, Cindy), which hadn't led to him finding a special connection, finding the right one, which they all knew Mac really, really wanted. (There'd also been some sort of incident on a 'boys' night out' involving a woman whom Jack and Bozer had described as a damsel-in-distress – or Fraulein-in-distress, given that she was German – who'd been totally into Mac, though Mac insisted that Katarina simply had Damsel Syndrome.) And then, just last year, there'd been the tragedy with Zoe Kiruma, beautiful, brilliant glaciologist and PhD student, who'd been trapped on the crippled R.V. Bancroft with thirty-one of her students, help hours away. Mac, as their best hope for survival, had been called upon to do everything he could to keep them alive until the Coast Guard got there, using Zoe as his hands.

He had almost succeeded at his impossible task.

 _They'd_ almost succeeded at their impossible task.

Zoe's thirty-one students had made it home alive, safe and sound.

Zoe herself hadn't.

(Riley knew there was absolutely no way one could fall in love in a matter of hours, but she also knew that Mac and Zoe had really, really connected.)

(That if she'd lived, maybe she'd have been Mac's right one.)

She let her hand linger on his shoulder for a moment, in a simple gesture of comfort, which made Mac give a little smile.

Then, Riley opened the fridge.

'Seriously, Mac, you gotta get a move-on with your self-opening, walking Esky project…'

* * *

 **SHOPPING MALL**

 **SAN FRANCISCO**

* * *

The day after the dramatic arrests of The Organization's ringleaders, Bozer found his eye caught by something in the window of the jewellery store as he walked past.

A display of shiny, beautiful diamond rings.

Engagement rings.

He found his feet walking him to the display, found himself looking at them, really, really looking, imagining what they might look like on Leanna's finger, which ones she'd like.

He knew this was fast. Really fast.

He knew it sounded crazy. Probably was crazy.

But in movies, people always seemed to just _know_ when they'd found the right one.

This sort of thing happened in movies all the time, and it always seemed to lead to happily ever after, and he knew very well that life wasn't a movie, but that didn't mean that it wasn't impossible.

His BFF insisted that impossible wasn't a scientific term, after all. He also liked to say that just because something was (supposedly) impossible, didn't mean you shouldn't try.

Bozer walked into the store.

* * *

 **BOZER'S HOTEL ROOM**

 **SAN FRANCISCO**

* * *

Leanna shifted a little in bed, and Bozer lifted his head.

'What's wrong?'

She gave a sad little smile.

'It's almost midnight. Two minutes until today becomes tomorrow and you have to go home.'

The case was closed, all the loose ends tied up. Bozer had been summoned back to LA, and his flight was tomorrow.

'Yeah. I've been thinking about that.'

'Me too.'

He gave a small shake of his head, and sat up, leaning over to grab something from his bedside table's drawer, as Leanna's brow furrowed in confusion.

He turned back to face her, holding a small velvet-covered box. Leanna's eyes widened, as he opened the box to reveal the diamond ring inside.

'I know it's too soon, and this is too fast, but if there's anything working for the FBI has taught me, it's to always trust your instincts. And every instinct I've got is telling me I can't let you go. I love you, Leanna. Will you marry me?'

Leanna removed her hands from over her mouth and nodded, slowly at first, the more certainly, surely, enthusiastically.

'Yes, Bozer. _Yes_.'

* * *

AN: And the plot thickens! Yes, Bozer and Leanna's decisions in this chapter were probably a bit OOC – but I'm paralleling 'getting engaged' with 'risk everything – including my career and possible jail time – in order to continue our relationship'. Given that they live more 'ordinary' lives in this AU, I wanted to go for something that had proportionate risk/sounded about as crazy. Also, I'm not going to lie, it's mostly for plot purposes…

Anyone catch my little _The Martian_ meta joke? (And yes, the book also exists in this AU – it'll be mentioned later, anyone got a guess as to in what context? - but let's just pretend that no-one's noticed, okay? Like how Lucas Till _and_ Mac somehow co-exist in the AU…)


	4. Chapter 4

**MACGYVER'S RESIDENCE**

 **LA**

* * *

Bozer, suitcase in hand, a grin on his face and whistling, walked into his home.

He found Mac, Riley and Jack in the kitchen, preparing a selection of food to go on the grill, and his grin widened as they, too, grinned.

'Welcome home, Boze.'

Bozer grinned at his BFF, then put down his suitcase and held out his arms.

'It's good to be back, guys. And boy, have I got news for you!' His grin grew impossibly wide. 'Leanna and I are getting married!'

* * *

There was complete and utter silence, aside from the sound of a plate smashing as it hit the floor, for thirty seconds.

Then, Jack pinched himself, hard, and winced, before turning to Mac, who seemed to be stuck in some kind of 'buffering' mode that Jack would have made a joke about if he wasn't absolutely _reeling,_ and at Riley, who was staring at Bozer in complete shock (and – Jack might have been imagining things – with a tiny, tiny bit of something akin to hurt or betrayal in her eyes), ignoring the broken crockery at her feet. The older man finally found his voice.

'You…you two heard that too, right? I didn't imagine that; Boze is really getting hitched?'

Mac finally seemed to finish processing and nodded. Riley snapped out of whatever was going on in her brain, and shook her head as if to clear it, before stepping over the plate fragments and reaching out to hug Bozer.

'Congrats, Boze.' Her voice was still astounded, and Bozer could tell that she wasn't convinced of the wisdom of his and Leanna's decision (to be fair, he had his doubts too, though every instinct he had was telling him that he'd made the right choice), though her congratulations were completely genuine. 'Leanna's a lucky woman.'

He hugged her back with a grin, then let go, only for Jack to reach out and hug him too.

'You're a bit young to be getting a ball and chain, brother…but then again, might as well take every minute you can get with the right one, eh?'

Mac, meanwhile, grabbed a bottle of very nice whiskey (it'd been a Christmas present from Charlie; Mac had been saving it for a special occasion), and four shot glasses, pouring them all a drink.

He handed the first one to his best friend, pulling him into a side-hug as he did so, as Jack and Riley took their own shots, then, his arm still around Bozer's shoulders, he held up his own glass.

'To Bozer and Leanna!'

Jack and Riley echoed that, and all four of them clinked their shot glasses together.

* * *

That evening, as an extremely happy, almost-literally-glowing Bozer headed inside to answer Leanna's phone call, Riley, Mac and Jack, sitting around the fire-pit, toasting marshmallows for s'mores and sipping the excellent whiskey, exchanged a significant look.

Bozer really did seem like a man in love, the sort of love that made one go purchase extremely expensive, symbolically-important, shiny somethings and want to vow to love, honour and cherish someone else for the rest of their life.

He'd waxed lyrical about Leanna, who was apparently not only really hot, but also brave and strong and sassy and _very, very_ competent, as well as incredible, amazing and special, and he had never, ever, ever felt this way about anyone before.

 _But…we've heard him talk this way about a woman before._

 _She's sitting right next to me, drinking expensive whiskey and toasting a marshmallow, right now._

Mac sighed, staring into the fire for a moment.

 _And Bozer and Leanna have only known each other for about a month, and, well, to borrow from a certain Disney movie…you can't marry someone you've just met._

The blonde looked back at Jack and Riley again, a silent conversation, a vow, a promise, passing between the three of them.

 _But we love Bozer._

 _He's not just a friend, he's family._

 _And you support your family._

 _Even when they make choices that you think might not be the best._

Mac sandwiched his perfectly-toasted marshmallow between two Graham crackers with a piece of chocolate, waited for the optimal period of time to get some melting of the chocolate, but not loss of the warmth of the toasted marshmallow, then took a bite.

 _And, well, maybe he and Leanna will live happily ever after._

 _Sure, it's fast. It sounds unbelievable and ridiculous, like something out of a movie._

 _But, hey, I'm definitely a guy who understands spontaneity and making things up as I go along, and more than anything, I want my loved ones to be as happy as possible._

 _I hope with everything I've got that Bozer and Leanna get their happy ending._

* * *

 **FIVE WEEKS, FIFTEEN INVITATION SAMPLES, FOUR TEST WEDDING CUPCAKE RECIPES AND A TUX SHOPPING DAY LATER**

* * *

'Jack, are you sure that's a good idea?'

Mac looked up from where he was building a wedding-photography-drone, over at the older man, who was sprawled out on his couch, feet on the coffee table, browsing the websites of several 'gentlemen's clubs' in LA.

(Jack had insisted on planning Bozer's bachelor party, and had complained loudly and often about the fact that they were only going to be in Las Vegas for the wedding – Bozer and Leanna were semi-eloping; their close friends and family were invited, but it was going to be a pretty simple affair scheduled for two months from now; he insisted that it was a missed 'golden opportunity' to have the best bachelor party ever.)

Riley, who was sitting at the dining table, on her laptop booking flights and accommodation for them all (she had a program to search the entire web automatically to get them the best deal possible), looked up and over at Mac.

'I'm just pretending I know nothing about it, Mac.'

She gave an exaggerated shudder of disgust, which Mac couldn't really blame her for.

 _Look, I appreciate a beautiful woman as much as any other red-blooded man who swings that way, but…a 'gentleman's club' isn't really my scene._

 _And even though Jack is definitely my surrogate father-figure…he isn't my sort-of stepfather and the closest thing to a dad I've ever had._

 _There are some things you don't want to tell the closest thing you've ever had to a father, and some things you don't want to imagine him doing._

At that moment, Jack's phone rang, and he glanced at the screen and noted the caller ID, and a smile that could only be described as goofily besotted appeared on his face. He immediately put aside his laptop and answered.

'Hey Diane, how's it going?' Mac and Riley exchanged a glance and fondly exasperated head-shakes, well aware that despite Jack's flirtatious nature, despite his definite weakness for a good-looking woman, despite the fact that he'd waxed lyrical about the freedom of being a bachelor, he was a faithful man who loved deeply, loved true and, deep down, really wanted that fairytale ending. They couldn't make out Diane's exact words in response, but they did pick up on the fondly exasperated, almost annoyed and frustrated tone in her voice. Jack gave a little chuckle in response. 'Yeah, he's turning into a real Groomzilla…'

 _Bozer is shopping for a cupcake stand for the wedding cupcakes he's going to bake._

 _It sounds like a simple errand, but it's turned into something that's frankly ridiculous._

Mac's best friend had declared that there was absolutely no way he was taking Jack with him as his second pair of eyes, since Jack would alternate between complaining and making absurd suggestions, while Mac was apparently out of the question because _I love you, bro, but you really don't have an eye for style, man_ , and Riley was completely sick of helping Bozer with wedding shopping, having gone with him for everything from his tux to the cake toppers.

Thus, Diane (having the same Bozer-approved eye for style as her daughter, not suffering from wedding fatigue, and having a lot of patience and tolerance) had been asked to help Bozer out today.

(Mac put the odds at Diane agreeing to help again at less than 50%.)

* * *

Two weeks after Diane and Bozer's first (and probably last) wedding shopping trip, Leanna managed to get a long weekend off and came down to LA to visit Bozer and to properly meet his friends-who-were-family.

As Riley and Bozer gathered up the burgers that he'd prepped earlier, to take them outside to put on the grill, while Mac started up said grill, supervised by Jack and Leanna (it'd caught fire last time they'd used it, probably due to the latest tweak Mac had made to enable Bozer's amazing pastrami to cook in half an hour _without_ catching fire), the former regaling the latter with embarrassing stories about her fiancé, Riley smiled widely at her friend (probably her best friend, in all honesty), bumping him lightly with her shoulder.

'Leanna is amazing. Like _wow_.'

Riley had had a good feeling about the other woman when they'd first met, had liked her. Really liked her.

Leanna was smart and confident and sassy and funny, and she had wicked dance moves, and, as her response to what had befallen Bozer that night had shown, she was a good, kind person.

But Riley admitted that she was just a little bit fonder of the other woman because she made Bozer so happy.

Anyone who could make him grin like that (sickeningly – but also really sweetly – besotted and joyous) was good people in her books.

Bozer laughed and grinned right back at her.

* * *

As Bozer scraped the plates and loaded the dishwasher, Mac walked into the kitchen, bearing the last load of dishes and cutlery, smiling. He put down the dishes, and started helping out his best friend, then gestured with his head back outside towards the deck.

'She's fantastic, Boze.'

Bozer smiled widely; his best friend's approval meant an awful lot to him, of course.

'Thanks, bro.'

Mac's own smile widened in response, then he reached into the cabinet under the sink to grab his DIY dishwashing powder (it was superior to anything available on the market, according to the blind tests he'd done).

 _Leanna makes Boze happy, and even if it's really, really fast, to the extent that it honestly seems unwise, they love each other._

 _Bozer loves her._

 _And thus, because of all three possible reasons given by the three possible permutations of emphasis of that sentence, of course I like her._

* * *

'You picked a good one, son.'

Jack reached out and clapped Bozer on the shoulder as they met halfway through the living room, as Jack headed towards the bathroom and Bozer headed out to the deck with dessert, a distinctly paternal smile on his face.

Bozer smiled back, looking very young.

Jack patted his shoulder one last time, then continued towards the bathroom.

He ignored the tiny, niggling little seed of doubt in his mind.

Bozer had gone ga-ga over Leanna, completely head over heels seemingly almost as fast as Mac's could fix a supposedly 'irreparable' household appliance with some paperclips, half a roll of duct tape and a couple of other scavenged odds and ends.

And he was completely, utterly, totally besotted. He'd risk just about everything for her, Jack reckoned. He'd even keep her a secret from Mac, his best friend, if that was what it took to keep her in his life.

It reminded him a little too much of how Nikki had been able to turn Mac's big brain to mush with a little touch or a particular smile or a special swing in her hips.

He shook his head.

He was definitely being paranoid; Leanna really did seem like good people.

(He was protective of the kids, maybe too much.)

(Then again, that was probably just part of being a parent.)

* * *

'You gotta see it!'

'It's definitely worthy of cult-classic status.'

'Like _Sharknado_.'

'And the various sequels.'

Riley and Mac grinned, looking _far_ too innocent to be up to anything other than mischief, as they set up a certain movie made by a certain self-proclaimed 'waffle wizard' staring a certain engineer as both a green monster (who didn't appear to be covered in ping-pong balls anymore, in no small part thanks to a certain hacker) and a middle-aged Chinese general on Mac's homemade projector.

Jack just gave a little smirk and reached out for a beer refill from Mac's walking, self-opening Esky, kicking back to enjoy the show, as Bozer glanced at his fiancée and made a face that was somewhere between _gulp, cringe_ and _it's showtime, baby!._ Leanna just quirked an eyebrow in response, not quite understanding what was happening, and sipped her own drink, leaning against Bozer's shoulder.

Jack and Riley (but not Mac, who was making a last-minute repair to the projector) noticed the look that crossed Leanna's face, and exchanged a confused glance of their own.

How could Bozer's _fiancée_ not have an inkling about his lifelong passion for film?

Surely they had to be mistaken…or maybe Leanna was messing with them, as part of some plot with Bozer (or a plot on his behalf) to get Mac and Riley back for the little stunt they were pulling.

Yeah, that had to be it.

* * *

'Wait, that's _Mac_?'

Leanna stared at the blonde in disbelief, then turned back to the screen, where General Wang was delivering a dramatic speech in Mandarin, then back at Mac, who just nodded with a smile.

'Yeah, Boze did a great job with the mask and the make-up.'

Bozer just grinned sheepishly, even as he preened a little at the praise.

'Mac's the only guy I know who speaks Mandarin.'

Jack grinned, knocking back the rest of his beer.

'Our boy Boze wrote, directed, did the costumes, hair and make-up and the filming of that.' He gestured to the screen. 'And some of the CGI, too.'

Leanna's brows rose, and she turned to her fiancé, who shoved his hands into his pockets a little awkwardly.

(Mac, Jack and Riley exchanged a surprised look. Clearly, Leanna was either a really, really good actress and really, really committed to pulling one on them, or she really, really didn't know that Bozer had spent years trying to get into the movie industry in his teens and his college days, and still did on the weekends and after work.)

'I was trying to break into movies. Thought I'd be the next Steven Spielberg.'

'Really? You never told me that.'

Bozer looked more sheepish.

'Well, when you're trying to impress a girl, you don't normally want to bring up things you've failed at.'

Mac took a sip of his beer, then put it down and pulled out a paperclip, as Jack and Riley exchanged another glance.

 _That is true, but there's a bit of a difference between trying to impress a woman and, well, not bringing up something that's important to you, a lifelong passion, to the woman you're going to marry, going to spend the rest of your life with._

 _Look, at the end of the day, I think there's no point trying to be someone you're not to impress a woman, because if she doesn't like you for who you really are, it's never going to work out anyway…_

* * *

 **RILEY'S RESIDENCE**

 **LA**

* * *

 _When_ did that happen?

When _did_ that happen?

When did _that_ happen?

When did that _happen?_

Sitting on her couch, Riley rubbed her forehead with her right hand and stared at the wall.

She liked Bozer.

Really, really liked Bozer.

In a way that was definitely distinct from the way she liked Mac, and very, very, very, very far removed from the way she liked Jack.

Sure, Bozer had behaved questionably in the early days of their acquaintance.

(Then again, he'd also found her an apartment, taught her how to cook and even talked her into playing that ridiculous rubber-duck-hitting game, just to make her laugh.)

(And he hadn't demanded anything in return. She knew that part of the reason why he'd done all of those things was because he'd liked her, but she genuinely believed that he didn't think that she owed him anything because he'd done it. That he'd do this sort of thing for any friend in need.)

But then, he'd gotten the wake-up call he'd needed, and they'd become really, really close friends.

(Yes, Bozer had had the occasional backslide, but bad old habits died hard, and she knew his heart was in the right place, and honestly, being somewhat inappropriate and occasionally a little creepy was very _Bozer.)_

And the real Bozer, the Bozer who wasn't trying to be cool and smooth and suave and someone he wasn't, was really great and honestly cute.

He was sweet and loyal and caring and funny. He exuded an earnest goodness, and he always, always tried to do the right thing, and always, always tried to provide light and joy and humour for his loved ones, provided _home,_ did everything he could to look after them, even if it didn't seem like a lot.

(But it was a lot. Definitely a lot.)

(Her mom had had to work long hours to provide. There was a lot of ramen and home-brand mac n' cheese and assorted foods from cans in her past. And then she'd gone to prison. Riley _really, really_ appreciated Bozer's home-cooked meals, made with great love and care.)

Once upon a time, Riley had been into bad boys.

(Which Bozer definitely wasn't.)

But after her run-in with The Collective, after she'd gone to prison and then gone straight…she'd changed.

And with that, her taste in men had changed too.

(Yeah, Bozer was sometimes inappropriate and creepy. But there was almost something comforting and attractive about that, in the sense that he was _earnest_ and _genuine._ He genuinely believed in the sentiment behind what he was saying, wasn't trying to play or manipulate others. She wouldn't be surprised if his lines were practiced in the sense that he'd stood in front of a mirror and delivered them beforehand, but they weren't practiced in that cruel, manipulative way.)

(She'd had enough – more than enough – of smooth, polished guys who always knew exactly what to say and were, essentially, con-men. Manipulators. Users. _Lies_.)

(Her mom had enough ex-boyfriends of that type. And she'd been charmed and taken in by a shamefully large number of guys like that, when she'd been younger.)

Riley sighed.

Yeah, she really liked him.

She looked down at the floor, sighed again, then looked back up at the wall.

'I've got _great_ timing.' She gave a rather bitter half-snort of laughter. 'Not.'

* * *

Two days later, Riley sat at her kitchen table, across from her mom, hands wrapped around a mug of hot chocolate (made according to Bozer's apparently 'top-secret-but-I'll-make-an-exception-just-for-you' hot chocolate recipe).

Diane looked at her daughter, who was staring into her drink, something in her gaze that made it seem as if she was staring straight into Riley's soul.

There was no judgement in her eyes, and there wasn't even any real surprise, either.

(Riley and Bozer were so very close, had a special connection, and Diane knew her daughter better than anyone, and had seen the look in Riley's eyes of late when she spoke of her friend.)

There was a touch of happiness (because every parent wanted their child to find love with someone who helped them be the best version of themselves), and a much bigger touch of sadness.

After a moment of silence, Diane reached out and brushed a lock of Riley's hair back, tucking it back behind her hair. Her daughter looked up at her.

'What are you going to do about it, baby girl?'

Riley swallowed, eyes darting down for a moment, before looking back up at her mother, voice very sad, with as much pain and vulnerability as Riley ever showed, but firmly, resolutely resigned. Decisive.

'He's getting married.'

And in that moment, Diane felt a rush of pride (wise beyond her years and selfless was not what most people would think when they saw her daughter, with her snarky, sarcastic attitude, leather jackets and multiple piercings, but mature and selfless Riley was) and her heart broke for her baby girl, all at once.

* * *

AN: Oh, poor, poor Riley…but don't worry! She's badass, she's awesome, and she's strong, and she is not going to let this stop her from being happy (or from being a great friend, of course!). This interpretation of Riley's taste in men probably only sort-of fits in what we've seen in canon, given 2.18, Riley + Airplane. However, my caveat would be that Billy Colton, despite the 'smooth, suave, cocky' personality, also comes across as genuine, and was definitely raised properly by Mama! Yes, Billy's a bit bad-boy, but he's definitely a good person, methinks – we know Riley (at least according to her ex) used to like bad boys, but given her experiences, I think that would definitely no longer be the case.

For my thoughts on 2.20, Skyscraper – Power, please see the AN at the end of my episode tag, _Like in the Movies._


	5. Chapter 5

**MACGYVER'S RESIDENCE**

 **LA**

* * *

The week after Leanna's visit, Mac and Jack sat on the couch, drinking beer, eating popcorn and watching the Warriors beat the Cavs.

(Bozer and Riley were at hers, playing video games. Riley had declared that they were all taking a night off wedding preparations – Mac and Jack were eternally grateful to her for that – and had all but ordered Bozer over to hers for pizza and _Resident Evil 7._ )

'Jack?'

'Hmm?' Jack's mouth was full of popcorn. He swallowed the large mouthful frankly horrifyingly fast (thankfully, Mac was very familiar with the Heimlich manoeuvre – coincidences were statistically inevitable, and if the trend for an improbably high number of improbable coincidences in his life continued, if Jack choked, he'd find himself back at CHMC-LA worrying over a friend and Beth would be the assigned doctor again, and even if he'd only met her twice, he could definitely imagine the _very_ unimpressed look on her face…), and spoke. 'What's shaking in that big brain of yours?'

Mac picked up a few pieces of popcorn from the bowl, then took a paperclip from the bowl on the coffee table, unwinding it and piercing the popcorn with the wire, making a bizarre shish kebab.

(His brain, being his brain, had been inspired to create mock-drunk-food because he was thinking about a night out. A very particular night out.)

'I don't think Bozer's _mysterious saviour_ was Leanna.' He paused. 'I think it was Riley.'

Jack turned to look at him, something far more serious in his eyes than would be expected solely based on Mac's words.

 _We both know that Bozer doesn't just love Leanna because he thinks that she 'saved' him._

 _But…well, given the timeline of their relationship, and the way that Bozer talks about said 'rescue', it's got to be a contributing factor._

 _Quite possibly - and I know this sounds really bad, but I believe it's the truth…a rather substantial contributing factor._

 _And I think Jack agrees with me._

The older man was silent for a moment, before he spoke.

'Whaddya you say we do about it?'

Mac gave a helpless little shake of his head, not having a solution to this problem.

(Problems like this were really not his forte.)

(And this was definitely a particularly thorny one.)

(It was entirely possible that saying something wouldn't change a thing. Alternatively, saying something could damage Bozer and Leanna's relationship, and even if they were a little unsure, given that Bozer and Leanna had only known each other for a handful of months, they definitely didn't want that. They wanted the opposite. Besides, Mac wasn't even sure if it was his and Jack's place to say something; surely this was down to Riley? Or Leanna?)

(Though, Mac wasn't sure if Leanna was aware of Bozer's mix-up. She, Riley and Jill had all looked after Bozer at the club that night, and he was pretty sure that Leanna had interpreted Bozer's gratefulness for her 'saving' him as for that.)

(After all, Bozer restrained himself from crossing the line between 'grateful and besotted' and 'creepily obsessed' in front of her.)

'I…I don't know.'

It was a sign of Jack's preoccupation with the thorny problem that he didn't immediately start teasing Mac about not knowing something.

* * *

Two days after his conversation with Mac, walking towards the kitchen bearing an armload of dirty plates, Jack kicked himself internally as he watched Riley and Bozer put their leftovers into boxes in the kitchen as Mac cleaned up the grill outside.

The duo were laughing, and as he watched, Riley swatted Bozer on the arm, and he retaliated by flinging a piece of lettuce at her.

There was a look in the hacker's eyes that he really, really should have noticed before. He couldn't believe that he hadn't noticed it before, he really, really should have (some closest-thing-to-a-father-she'd-ever-had he was being), but his ever-growing renewed relationship with Diane had admittedly been consuming a lot of his attention of late.

His heart broke a little for the young woman.

(Being a parent, he'd realized, meant opening yourself up to a hell of a lot more heartbreak than you'd ever felt before, because now their heartbreaks were yours, too.)

(He hadn't quite realized that until Nikki had cheated on Mac.)

(Still, Jack thought it was very much worth it.)

He was broken out of his reverie by apiece of discarded lettuce landing on his head, followed by a slice of pickle.

Bozer looked far too innocent. Riley looked way too pleased with herself.

Jack removed the vegetable pieces, and just shot the two an unimpressed look.

'Don't you kiddos have any respect for your elders anymore?' Bozer and Riley exchanged a glance and a smirk, and Jack shook his head and continued before they could start making jokes about him being old (he wasn't!). 'And seriously, of all the foods to toss at Ol' Jack, you gotta pick rabbit food? You two-'

Without pause in his speaking, he suddenly flung the vegetable pieces back at Bozer and Riley.

* * *

Mac walked into the kitchen three minutes later, a smudge of grease on his cheek (he'd gotten side-tracked while cleaning up and made a quick modification to the grill) to find himself in the middle of a warzone.

(There were soap suds _everywhere_. On Jack's face, in Riley's hair, on Bozer's shirt, on the kitchen counter…)

(They'd moved on from flinging leftover bits of food.)

Bozer, Riley and Jack, who were all poised with handfuls of soap suds in their right hands, exchanged a glance and a smirk full of mischief, then all three rounded on the blonde.

* * *

 _Soap molecules have an end that is attracted to water, and an end that is repelled by it. Thus, when soap is mixed with water, the molecules arrange themselves so that the water-repelling ends face the air, while the water-loving ends face, you guessed it, water. If you introduce air pockets to the water, you get bubbles, which are just soap molecules surrounding an air pocket, and foam's just a collection of lots and lots of really tiny bubbles._

 _Contrary to popular belief, more soap suds does not mean better cleaning power. Soap manufacturers actually add foaming agents to their products to produce more foam because people believe that._

 _Still, more suds does equal more fun._

* * *

 **JACK (AND RILEY'S) FAVOURITE SKEEBALL PLACE**

 **LA**

* * *

'Glad to see you got my message, Riley.'

She snorted and rolled her eyes, crossing her arms and leaning against the Skeeball machine that Jack was using.

'I couldn't _not_ get it. You sent it _six_ times. Each with increasingly more urgent emojis.'

'Well, sometimes, a small picture is worth a thousand words.' He pointed at her. 'And why should I have to text you six times? Text me back!'

Riley rolled her eyes again.

'I'm pretty sure I know what this is about.'

'Yeah.' Jack pointed towards the snack bar. 'Pizza!' He started walking towards the counter. 'What do you want?'

Riley reached out and grabbed his arm.

'This isn't about pizza. You only ever make me come here alone when you want to give me some long-winded advice that usually ends in weird metaphors, like punching sharks in the face.'

'That's not a metaphor, okay? I didn't say punch a shark in the face! Don't do that. You're only gonna piss him off. I said poke him in the eye.' He pointed at her very seriously. 'You need to remember that, in case you ever have to fight one of 'em.' Riley just shot him an arched brow and a _look_ , and Jack sighed and led her over to one of the tables, sitting down. 'You ever gonna tell Boze the truth? 'Bout who his _mysterious saviour_ really was?' He paused, seeking out her eyes. 'You ever gonna tell him, Ri?'

It was abundantly clear that Jack wasn't just referring to telling Bozer that Riley had been his mysterious saviour, not Leanna.

Riley was silent for a moment, almost still, save for the slight tap of her nails on the table top. She looked down at the table, then, looked back up at Jack.

'It doesn't matter anymore.'

The words were resolute, certain. Sad, but definitely firm and full of acceptance.

Riley got up, intending to leave, but was stayed by Jack grabbing her wrist, looking up at her.

'You're a real good friend, Riles. Real good. The best.'

When Sarah had gotten married and invited him to the wedding…he'd been a bit of an ass. He'd had trouble letting go of the woman he'd loved (and a little part of him would always love, no matter what), and he'd, in a rather long moment of complete and utter stupidity, tried reminding her of what they used to be (partners with an undercurrent of something more, and not in the way he and Mac had been partners with something more either), tried to win her back.

(Not that he'd really had her in the first place, since he'd never had the sense and the courage to seriously tell her how he'd felt.)

(In all fairness, she'd never either.)

He had seriously, seriously considered speaking up when asked to speak now or forever hold your peace.

(He hadn't been sure if he would be able to forever hold his peace.)

He'd dreamed about what might happen if he did.

(He'd also seriously considered what would actually happen, which would probably be him rendered sterile and Sarah sent to prison for grievous bodily harm instead of going on her honeymoon.)

(Which – somewhat disturbingly – had only engendered a rush of simultaneous affection and desire, love and lust, for his former partner.)

He'd held his peace.

It'd hurt, really, really hurt, been one of the most painful things he'd ever experienced (he'd been tortured on three continents, so he definitely knew pain) but he'd done the right thing by her in the end.

Jack wouldn't wish that pain on anyone, except maybe really bad bad guys. Like The Ghost.

He absolutely wouldn't wish it on one of his loved ones, and in his heart of hearts, he thought, _especially not Riley._

She gave a sad, slightly bitter little smile, and tugged her wrist free (he'd slackened his grip after saying what he had to say anyway), stepping away from the table.

Jack half-expected her to leave, but instead, after a moment of quiet stillness, Riley gestured to one of the Skeeball machines.

'Best of five? Winner buys pizza and drinks at that place two blocks north?' Jack opened his mouth to protest, because the pizza at that hip place just didn't have the charm of the Skeeball place's greasy goodness, but Riley continued before he could speak. 'I could do with a real drink, Jack. Or two.'

The Skeeball place, being a place for all ages, didn't serve alcohol.

Jack nodded.

Sure, it wasn't a healthy coping mechanism, but he totally got wanting to drown your sorrows with a few drinks.

He figured that once or twice per emotionally painful event was okay.

He cracked his knuckles, affecting a grin that he didn't completely feel.

'Bring it on, sweetheart.'

* * *

 **FBI OFFICES**

 **LA**

* * *

Three days before his and Leanna's wedding (and the day before his bachelor party, which was Mac-approved, and thus Bozer knew would be tasteful and respectful), Bozer whistled to himself as he walked out to his car.

There was a man, dressed in dirty, ragged clothes, hunched over and rubbing his hands together as if cold, wandering near the carpark. The man tripped, and it looked like his landing was very hard.

Bozer, concerned, walked over to him.

'You okay, man?'

The man seemed very dazed, so Bozer held out a hand to help him up.

Then, the next thing he knew, there was a very sharp pain in his abdomen, and he stared in complete and utter shock at the man in front of him, who only smirked darkly.

The face was familiar; he swore he'd seen it before in one of his case files…

Bozer dropped to his knees, then toppled over as the man tucked the bloodied knife back into a hidden pocket and walked away…

He tried to cry out, to move, to do anything, but he simply couldn't…

His vision started to blur, his eyelids drooped closed…

The last thing he remembered was several loud shouts.

'Oh my God!'

'Bozer!'

'Call 911!'

The last thought that went through his brain was the sheer injustice of it all.

* * *

 **CHMC-LA**

 **(AGAIN)**

 **(UNFORTUNATELY)**

 **(DR TAYLOR WILL** _ **NOT**_ **BE HAPPY WHEN SHE HEARS ABOUT THIS)**

 **LA**

* * *

Riley, Mac, Jack and Diane sat side by side in the uncomfortable plastic chairs of the hospital's waiting room. Jack and Diane were holding hands, giving and seeking comfort, while Riley leaned against her mother's shoulder. Mac had his elbows resting on his knees, forehead pillowed in his hands.

Riley's phone beeped with a text message notification, and she pulled it out and read the message out loud.

'Leanna's just getting onto the plane, she'll land in an hour and a half.'

It was honestly miraculous that she'd managed to get a flight at such short notice, but Riley suspected that Bozer's boss Matty had a hand in it. From what she'd heard, she really did like Bozer, approved of Bozer and Leanna in her own way, and would be sympathetic and supportive.

Diane pressed a kiss to the top of her daughter's forehead, then squeezed Jack's hand.

'I'll go pick her up.'

The other three all shot her a very grateful look; they knew that they definitely should pick Leanna up, given what had just happened to her fiancé, but at the same time, they desperately didn't want to leave the hospital, wanted to stay as close to Bozer and any news of his condition that they could get.

Mac sighed and ran a hand through his hair, then pulled a paperclip from his pocket and started unwinding it.

* * *

'Family of Wilt Bozer?' A very familiar doctor walked into the waiting room, up to Riley, Mac and Jack (Leanna and Diane were still on their way from LAX) and addressed them, a reassuring-doctor smile on her face. 'He's going to be fine. He lost a lot of blood, but the blade missed all vital organs. He'll be in hospital for at least a week and a half, and he's got weeks of rehab ahead of him, but he should make a full recovery.' They all let out a breath they hadn't been quite aware that they'd been holding, and Dr Taylor's smile widened. 'You'll be able to see him in about ten minutes.' After a brief moment of something that seemed like hesitation, her smile grew more wry, taking on that finding-light-in-the-darkness tone, and simultaneously more sheepish. 'I'm really very sorry if I jinxed him.'

Mac found it in him to give her a wry little smile in return.

'You didn't; there's no such thing as jinxes.'

Dr Taylor gave a little half-shrug.

'Well, given the improbability of this entire situation…if you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.'

Mac actually laughed. It was a very little one, a half-laugh, really, but it was still a laugh.

As Dr Taylor left to attend to her patients and Mac pulled out his phone to text Leanna and Diane an update, Jack and Riley just exchanged a very significant look.

* * *

As a very worried Leanna, looking, for once, not put together, bustled into the room, followed by a slightly-calmer Diane, Mac and Jack got up from their seats, intending to give Bozer's fiancée some time alone with him. The older man put a hand on Riley's shoulder, but the hacker looked up at him, eyes plaintive, vulnerable.

'I don't want to leave him.'

She seemed to have spoken without thinking, spoken openly, bared her soul. Riley realized exactly what she'd said, how it sounded, and then glanced at Leanna.

The two women stared at each other for a breath, something a little tense crackling through the air.

Then, completely in sync, both glanced at Bozer, that tension evaporating, something so very worried but also so very soft, affectionate, loving, appearing in their eyes. They glanced back at each other, and spoke simultaneously.

'Sorry, I'll go-'

'Come back in five.'

They both paused, and then gave each other very wan little smiles, and Riley got up, offering her chair to Leanna, who gave her a grateful little nod, a gesture returned by Riley, who then slipped out of the room after Mac, Jack and Diane.

Just outside the doorway of Bozer's room, Jack paused and glanced back into the room, where Leanna was sitting just next to Bozer's head, speaking words to him that no-one could hear. Then, he turned his head to face Riley, a little ways down the hallway. He gave a sigh and a little smile, affectionate and soft and sad all at once, then jogged down the hall and put an arm around her shoulders.

'Come on, kiddo, let's go raid the canteen for some Jell-O. I got a hankering for cherry!'

* * *

AN: Poor Bozer…and yes, highly improbable is the name of the game here! (Hey, if you've read pretty much any of my other AU stories, you'll know that I shamelessly abuse the fact that coincidences are statistically inevitable!)


	6. Chapter 6

**CHMC-LA**

 **LA**

* * *

As Mac put down the duct-tape flowers he'd made for his best friend, moving very quietly so as to avoid disturbing Riley and Leanna, who were fast asleep in chairs on opposite sides of Bozer's bed, there was a soft knock on the door, and when he opened it, Dr Taylor (he told himself to think of her as that, since she was at work and all) was standing on the other side, several blankets in her arms. She held out the blankets, that very warm yet still professional doctor-y smile of hers on her face, gesturing to Riley and Leanna with her head.

'I'm just leaving after my shift, but I thought I should bring these over.' A note of something wry appeared in her smile. 'I'd like to minimize any possibility of increasing the number of patients we have, especially from this social group.'

Mac gave a little chuckle, and took one of the blankets from her arms, draping it over Riley, while Dr Taylor placed one over Leanna, putting the spares aside on the table by Bozer's bed, next to the duct-tape flowers.

The flowers caught her eye, and she studied them for a moment, before her smile broke into a grin that was rather like that of a child's, something impressed in her eyes when she glanced at him, then back at the flowers.

Mac's expression shifted into something that was a combination of a childlike grin, a sheepish smile and the smirk of a very much grown man who'd just impressed an attractive woman.

After a beat, Dr Taylor's expression shifted back into her doctor-y smile, and she stepped away, back towards the door.

Mac gestured towards Riley, who'd started rolling herself into a blanket burrito of sorts, and at Leanna, who'd fisted a hand in her blanket.

'Thanks.'

She gave a half-shrug.

'It's my job. _I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug_ …'

His smile widened a little as she quoted the Hippocratic Oath.

'Doesn't mean you don't deserve thanks.'

Her smile widened too, and then, with a slightly-awkward nod, she put a hand on the door.

'I, uh, have to go.'

'Of course, you need your rest!'

She narrowed her eyes at him pointedly.

'So do you.'

He held his hands up in supplication with a half-chuckle.

'You won't be treating me for sleep deprivation or its consequences, I promise.' He paused, hesitated a little, for a moment. 'Uh…see you around?'

Her smile grew a little more wry, teasing.

'Well, I do work here.'

Then, with a wave, she slipped out of the room.

Mac was quite sure that her somewhat abrupt departure wasn't just because she needed to get home to rest before her next shift, but was primarily because she was concerned about maintaining a professional distance.

(Which, he was pretty sure, was why she hadn't actually said anything about the duct tape flowers.)

(From their not-so-brief conversation when he'd helped her select a toaster, he was quite sure that she would definitely appreciate duct tape.)

(She appreciated _The Martian_. Anyone who appreciated _The Martian_ had to, surely, also appreciate the usefulness and versatility of duct tape.)

He got the sense that Beth took her job and the ethical considerations of it very seriously.

* * *

 **JACK'S RESIDENCE**

 **LA**

* * *

Jack sighed, running a hand through his hair as he kicked back in one of his La-Z-Boys. He glanced over at his girlfriend, who was curled up on the couch, his football snuggie over her legs. Diane looked back at him, understanding in her eyes, as if she knew exactly what he was thinking.

'You got your fears for 'em, countless fears, you worry, you always worry, even if it's just a little bit…' He sighed again, gesturing vaguely with a hand. 'You reckon you worry about 'em in every way you possibly can, and then, something completely left-field that you didn't even consider happens…'

He sighed a third time, and Diane gave a little nod, a very wry smile on her face, reaching out to pat Jack's forearm.

'That's parenthood, Jack Dalton.'

* * *

 **CHMC-LA**

 **LA**

* * *

Slowly, Bozer's senses returned.

Smell first, then touch, then hearing…

He smelled a slight floral-citrus scent, one that was very familiar, but he couldn't quite place…

He was under some blankets, slightly scratchy ones…

There was a murmur of voices, both female, and both very, very familiar…he couldn't quite make out the words, but the conversation between them seemed friendly, even light-hearted…

Suddenly, the conversation stopped, and he was positive he could make out something along the lines of _he's waking up!_

He opened his eyes, and was very grateful that the lighting was dim. As his vision focused, two faces (two very beautiful faces), one on his right, one on his left, both hovering over him, and both worried and relieved, became clear.

Bozer blinked twice, and then, slowly, his rather lethargic facial muscles rearranged themselves into a smirk.

'I died and went to heaven, didn't I?'

For a moment, both Riley and Leanna gave relieved little half-laughs, then Riley snorted and rolled her eyes with very fond exasperation. Bozer got the sense that if he wasn't lying in a hospital bed, she'd punch him in the arm. Leanna smiled, shaking her head affectionately, tucking a loose strand of hair back behind her ear, then reaching out and gently taking his hand in hers, being careful not to disturb the IV and monitors attached to him.

'No, Bozer. You're definitely alive.'

Riley's expression sobered a little, her fingers twitching a bit from where they were lying on the side of his bed.

'But you gave us a bit of a scare.' Riley gestured to the sizeable pile of re-shaped paperclips lying by the huge bunch of duct tape flowers. 'Pretty sure Mac actually made a dent in his Christmas presents.' She made a face. 'And Jack's gonna helicopter-parent for _months._ '

She didn't mention the fact that she'd hardly left his bedside (and neither had Leanna) for the last four days.

She didn't mention how worried she'd been ever since she'd gotten that phone call, how scared she'd been that they were going to lose him, that she was going to lose him, permanently and in every way, forever.

(She didn't need to.)

(Bozer got the message, loud and clear.)

* * *

Mac walked into the hospital canteen, intent on picking up some food for himself, Riley, Leanna and Jack, who were all paying Bozer a visit.

(He was still a few days from discharge, but they'd made a start on his rehab today, and like all rehab for serious injuries, it was exhausting and frustrating, and he was beginning to get cabin fever on top of that, so they were trying to cheer him up as best as they could.)

(They were currently in the middle of a very intensive game of Uno.)

(Mac had been unanimously thrown out of the game after he'd won the first six games.)

Dr Taylor was sitting at a table in the corner, a plate with half a leaf of spinach and some breadcrumbs and a three-quarters-empty glass of water in front of her, very happily eating what appeared to be a serve of mixed berry cobbler.

He smiled and waved, probably a little awkwardly, and walked over to her table. She waved back with her free hand, and sucked the remnants of her spoonful of cobbler off the spoon, removing it from her mouth to speak, though he beat her to it, gesturing to her dessert.

'I take it the cobbler's good?'

She smiled a touch sheepishly.

'It's _almost_ as good as pie.' She gave a half-shrug. 'I have an irrational love for pie.' She paused. 'Pun unintended.'

He chuckled, pulling a paperclip out of his pocket, which began to take the shape of pi.

 _In general, I'm not the biggest fan of puns._

 _I certainly can't stand Jack's._

 _But between you and me? I liked that one._

* * *

'…Seriously, guys, my abs are killing me!'

Riley raised her eyebrows at him, though Mac, Jack and Bozer could all see the sympathy in her eyes anyway.

'You _were_ stabbed in the abdomen a week and a half ago, Bozer.'

'And you spent several days lying largely stationary in bed.' Mac gestured to his best friend's mid-section. 'You'll have experienced some muscle wastage.'

Leanna smiled, squeezing her fiancé's hand gently, leaning over to press a kiss to his cheek, a teasing note in her voice.

'You'll be fit enough to run away from the Swim Team in no time, Mr Badger.'

'You still owe me a rematch, honeybun.'

Mac gave a half-chuckle as he obviously remembered a memory or two from his and Bozer's high school years, while Riley made a face and Jack crossed his arms.

'Hey, you ain't known sore abs 'till you've done two hundred sit-ups. While soaking wet in the mud!'

Bozer took on a very mischievous expression, then did his best impression of a 'get-off-my-lawn' grumpy old man.

'Back in my day, we used to have to walk to school in the snow, uphill! Both ways!'

Riley, too, smirked, looking pointedly at Jack.

'So, of course, us young 'uns don't _really_ understand hardship.'

'Since we were born _after_ the invention of the snowplough.'

Jack shot his three young friends a _look,_ then leaned over to Leanna and stage-whispered.

'Those three have no respect for their elders.'

Leanna arched an eyebrow at him, nodding slowly, just as there was a knock on the door. Bozer called out.

'Come in!'

The door opened, to reveal an unexpected visitor, Bozer's boss.

Matty walked into the room, pausing just left of the foot of Bozer's bed. She glanced around at the room's occupants once, seeming satisfied with what she saw, a smile tugging on the corners of her mouth, then spoke, her smile widening.

'Good news. We caught Jason Tennant.' He was the man who'd stabbed Bozer. Something harder, a little angrier, appeared in her eyes. 'He's going to face justice and the full force of the law.'

The tone of her voice made that sound like a promise, a guarantee. Like she'd personally ensure it.

Mac, Jack, Leanna, Riley and Bozer all nodded, with Mac summing it up for them all.

'Thanks, Director Webber.'

The diminutive woman waved a hand, eyes falling on the duct tape flowers and paperclip pile, the half-re-shaped paperclip in Mac's hands, something sceptical, questioning and not in a good way, in her gaze.

'It's Matty, Paperclip Boy.'

* * *

 **RILEY'S CAR**

 **ON-ROUTE TO BOZER'S PT'S OFFICE**

 **LA**

* * *

A week and a half after his discharge from hospital, Riley drove Bozer to PT.

(Leanna had gone home three days previously; with what everyone suspected was some string-pulling by Matty, she'd managed to get three weeks' off while Bozer was in hospital and for the start of his recovery, but she'd had to return to work. She and Bozer had put the wedding off until he was fully recovered and she had some vacation time saved up for the honeymoon.)

'…And he keeps saying that _coincidences are statistically inevitable_ and all that, but I'm like, _seriously_ , man?'

Mac had gotten Dr Taylor's (Bozer supposed that they really had to start thinking of her as Beth) phone number after _coincidentally_ running into her at a diner called Mama Colton's a block and a half away from the hospital four days ago.

(Bozer didn't buy it.)

(His roomie was a really bad liar.)

(Besides, Mac had been cross-referencing Yelp reviews for all eateries that served or sold pie with proximity to CHMC-LA using what appeared to be a combination of a program that Riley had written ages ago and the fact that he could read really, really fast and retain pretty much all the information.)

(Bozer wasn't being creepy; he'd gotten locked out of his Netflix account and had borrowed his BFF's laptop to use his account while Mac was working late one night.)

Riley snorted and shook her head.

'Yeah, they're statistically inevitable, but he's _definitely_ messed with the odds there.' She tilted her head a little in thought. 'It's a tiny bit creepy…but also kinda cute.'

Bozer sniffled and wiped his eyes dramatically.

'He's come so far since Darlene Martin…'

* * *

 **MACGYVER'S RESIDENCE**

 **LA**

* * *

'Are Riley and Diane gonna be here for dinner, or…?'

Bozer pulled his head out of the fridge, where he was inspecting the contents (he and Mac needed to do a grocery run, but he was pretty sure he could cobble together something decent from what they had left) and glanced at Jack, who shook his head.

(Mac was in the garage, from which occasional loud clanking sounds rang out. There'd also been what sounded like a small explosion and a cry of _damn it!_ )

(In short, it was just another Saturday.)

'Nah, they've still got, like, three inspections today.'

(The lease on Diane's apartment was up, and she was looking for a new place.)

(It'd been a short-term lease on a not-so-great place, just somewhere for her to live while she found her feet in LA again.)

Bozer made a face. He'd never actually had to experience the horror of the LA real estate market himself (thanks to his amazing BFF/landlord and Harry Jackson, who'd left everything he had to his beloved grandson), but he'd heard enough to know that horror was an accurate and possibly understated description. Then, a realization dawned on his face.

'Why doesn't Diane just move in with you?'

Jack took a sip of his orange juice.

'We're not ready for that yet, Boze.'

The younger man looked confused.

'But it's been _months_ since you two got back together, and you guys were together for, like, five years the first time…and you know, second chance, getting older, why waste time?'

Jack shot him a look.

'We ain't that old! I dare you to say that to Diane, brother!' He swirled his glass around, stared at it, silent for a moment. 'And…yeah, the history makes it easier, but it also makes it harder. We got some baggage. Capisce?' He looked up at Bozer, who nodded. 'We gotta get it right this time. _I_ gotta get it right this time, Boze.'

Bozer just nodded again.

That made sense.

* * *

'…That sounds _amazing_ , stop it! You're making me hungry!'

On Bozer's laptop screen, Leanna shook her head as he described his latest iteration of his pumpkin pie recipe.

(Mac had expressed a craving, for reasons unknown.)

Bozer's expression widened into something between a smirk and a grin.

'I'll make it for you next time you visit, sweetie pie. Promise.'

Leanna smiled, something a touch sad in there.

'I'm already looking forward to it! I miss you, snuggle bear.'

His grin widened at the mostly tongue-in-cheek pet name.

'Miss you too.'

* * *

After a long, long day at work (he hadn't left until 7), Bozer walked into his house to the wonderful smell of homemade lasagne, courtesy of his BFF, and said BFF sitting on the couch, feet up on the coffee table, watching _Apollo 13_ and texting someone on his phone, chuckling.

Bozer smirked and made a mental note to text Jack and Riley later.

(He was 100% sure who said _someone_ was.)

(Mac had been texting Bozer's twice-former doctor frequently ever since he'd gotten her number, and while he was also pretty sure his BFF wasn't aware of it, there was a pretty distinct look on his face, in his eyes, when he was talking to her.)

Bozer dumped his stuff down randomly and walked into the kitchen, grabbed a plate and helped himself to a large serve of the lasagne (which had been kept warm with a little invention of Mac's that kinda resembled the love child of a jacked up hairdryer and a heat lamp), stuffing a large bite into his mouth with a fork, chewing and swallowing before speaking.

'What's up, bro?'

Mac looked away from the TV, where NASA engineers had just started trying to work out how to put a square peg in a round hole (pretty much literally), and glanced at Bozer.

'I'm watching _Apollo 13_ with Beth.'

Bozer turned his head a little and stared very hard at the spot of couch next to his roommate.

'Did you make her an invisibility cloak or something? 'Cause if you did, I want one, man!' He made to cross his arms before he realized he was holding a plate with a hefty serve of lasagne on it, and settled for just shooting the blonde a _look_. 'Seriously, we're BFFs! BFFs don't hold out on each other when one of them makes an invisibility cloak!'

Mac nodded slowly.

'Uh…if I ever work out how to make an invisibility cloak, you'll get the first one, Boze. I promise.' Bozer nodded solemnly, satisfied, as Mac held up his phone and waggled it around, looking a tiny bit sheepish. 'And she's at hers, and I'm, well, here, obviously, we're just…' He lifted a shoulder. 'Watching it together from two separate locations.' He shrugged again. 'Like a pair of quantum-entangled particles. Well, that's not a great analogy, we're both in the same state, namely watching _Apollo 13,_ rather than opposing complementary states, but…'

Mac trailed off as he realized that he'd completely lost Bozer, who was just standing there, shovelling lasagne into his face and looking befuddled, though he had mentally latched on to the _entangled_ bit and was starting to plan out the text message he was going to compose to Jack and Riley about Mac's Thursday night activities.

(It was definitely going to mention the adorkable watching-a-movie-together-while-apart – not to mention one of Mac's _favourite_ movies – and the even more adorkable nerdy analogy – at least, Bozer _thought_ it was adorkable; he admittedly didn't really _understand_ what Mac had actually been talking about, but there was entanglement involved, so he was pretty sure the rest was just fine details and nuance.)

* * *

AN: I really like _Apollo 13,_ if you haven't realized already! My understanding of quantum entanglement isn't that great (I learned a tiny bit about it in my chemistry lectures last year – a really, really tiny bit – and I have a couple of friends who study quantum computing, which operates on this principle, but quantum mechanics and the like pretty much goes over my head…I'm not anywhere near as smart as Mac, or Riley, or Beth!) Are you happy that poor Boze is feeling better? (Yeah, I really whumped him in this fic – I think we get a lot of Mac!whump, and Jack!whump, so why not Bozer!whump?)


	7. Chapter 7

'…Mom's _still_ going on about it.' On the screen, Leanna rolled her eyes. Her parents were _not_ happy that she was marrying a man she'd only known for a few months, to say the least, and that they had never met, even if the wedding had been postponed. 'Will you be able to get time off to come with me to visit them anytime soon?'

Bozer shook his head regretfully.

Between his work, his PT and Jason Tennant's trial, there was no way he'd be able to leave LA, even for a couple of days.

Then, he plastered a smile on his face, looking for the bright side.

'But hey, at least we know your mom and my mom will get along! They can complain about the wedding together!' Bozer's parents were not exactly pleased with his impending marriage to Leanna either. They thought he was rushing into things and that it was unwise. 'And at least _some_ of our family approves.'

Riley, Mac and Jack had been wonderfully supportive; even if Bozer knew that they had their concerns, their doubts, they also understood that he loved Leanna and she loved him and they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together, and that it was their lives.

(They were his family, even if he didn't share a drop of blood with any of them. And because they were his family, that made them Leanna's family too.)

Leanna gave a soft little smile.

'Yeah. It's nice to have someone in our corner.'

* * *

 **DIANE'S NEW RESIDENCE**

 **(SHE GOT THE KEYS FOUR DAYS AGO)**

 **LA**

* * *

As she tossed the last throw blanket over the couch, Riley smiled at her mom, who was arranging photographs on a shelf (these included several pictures of a younger Riley, and one of Riley, Diane and Jack from years ago one very special Christmas when Jack had been stateside for the holidays, and another one of Jack and Diane from two weeks ago), and pulled her into a side-hug.

Her mom was glowing with contentment, with happiness, with love, in a way that Riley only remembered her being once before.

When she and her mom and Jack had been a family the first time 'round.

(Diane Davis had, for reasons unknown, since she was so astute and generally an excellent judge of character, terrible taste and choices in men.)

(Riley's biological father Elwood was a conman and a crook and a gambling addict and an alcoholic with violence issues who'd claimed that he'd turned over a new leaf several times and tried to rebuild a relationship with his ex and his daughter, then just his daughter, when it became clear that Diane was not going to give him the time of day. The last time he'd contacted her, claiming he had changed, not too long before that fateful night at the club, Riley had agreed to a brief meeting and ultimately, with the help of a program she'd coded that checked people's micro-expressions for signs of lying and deception, decided to give him one last chance, and they'd started tentatively rebuilding a relationship, though she'd made it very, very clear that she already had a father, and he was absolutely not going to be replacing Jack in any way, shape or form. Oddly, they'd become somewhat, sort-of friendly with each other after Jack had helped Elwood deal with a hangover from his last con job involving a really expensive baseball.)

(Diane's next boyfriend after Jack had been another conman who'd taken Diane for everything she had. Riley had arranged for a bikie gang to break his legs.)

(In fact, the only one of her mom's various exes who was a good guy, a great guy, the sort of man that Riley firmly believed her mother deserved, was Jack.)

'I'm really glad you're happy, Mom.' She pulled away a little so she could look her mother in the eye. 'You deserve it.'

Diane smiled back at her daughter, tucking a lock of her hair back behind her ear, studying her for a moment.

'So do you, baby girl.'

There was something a little sad in her voice. Riley knew that part of her mom really wanted to urge her to say something to Bozer before it was too late, before she had to hold her peace forever, but that her mom also understood why Riley was staying silent.

Riley smiled at her, something a touch sad and bitter in her smile, but it was, also, paradoxically heartfelt.

'I _am_ happy, Mom. I really am.'

That wasn't a lie. Not nearly. She had a job she loved, she had friends-who-were-family, and her mom and Jack were happy and in love.

(After all, even if Riley was sarcastic and snarky and maybe a touch jaded – at least, more jaded than Bozer and Mac were, which probably wasn't saying heaps – she still believed in love, and like just about everyone out there, deep down, she wanted her parents to be happy and in love.)

Diane smiled back, and pressed a kiss to the top of her daughter's head.

'Okay, sweetie, okay.'

* * *

'…It was necessary, Bozer. I didn't like it, but it was _necessary_.' Leanna made a vague, frustrated, almost angry gesture with her right hand, wondering how in the world telling Bozer about her day and the massive arrests she'd made (they were both working the same case, albeit from several hundred miles apart and from different ends, so she was allowed to tell him all the details), taking down a drug kingpin, had led to what was _definitely_ a fight. 'If I hadn't broken him, we probably wouldn't have taken down his boss and the whole organization before they went to ground, and you _know_ we'd probably never have found them if they did.'

Bozer replied, just as implacable and firm in his conviction as she was.

(And wounded, too. Hurting. What his fiancée had done had struck a nerve, a sore spot, a wound that had never quite healed over completely.)

(Not that she knew it, since he never talked about it.)

(Riley didn't know. Jack didn't either. If Mac hadn't grown up in Mission City, hadn't had a really big brain that remembered almost everything he'd ever read and was insatiably curious, Bozer wasn't even sure if he'd know either.)

'You convinced him that his kid, his four-year-old kid, had been killed by his boss!'

Bozer shook his head, upset, mad at his fiancée, and not quite able to articulate exactly _why._ He got that their jobs, particularly Leanna's job, required stuff like this, from time to time. Sometimes, you had to do things you weren't proud of for the greater good, to protect others. But he thought there was a line that shouldn't be crossed, and was firm in that conviction. He wanted no part in in a game that crossed those lines. He wasn't quite sure where those lines lay (he wasn't quite sure exactly what part of Leanna's interrogation tactic had set him off – maybe it'd have been okay if there was a direct threat, like someone held at gunpoint, or if it hadn't been a kid, a four-year-old kid, or if it'd been _taken hostage_ , not _killed_ …or maybe it wouldn't have been), but he knew there were lines, as hypocritical as that sounded.

' _911, what's your emergency?'_

' _Please, we need help!'_

' _Can you tell me what happened?'_

' _It was an accident. Please. My little brother, he's bleeding!'_

' _Your brother's hurt?'_

' _He's not moving! Please, help me!'_

He didn't quite notice that he'd started crying as the memory had overtaken him, not until Leanna spoke, frustration leaving her voice, replaced by concern.

'Bozer…what's wrong?'

He drew in a ragged breath, wiping his eyes on the back of his hand. Then, he took another breath, stared at his hands for a moment, then looked back at Leanna and spoke.

'It was my little brother's birthday. My mom went to pick up the cake. We were playing. I don't know how he got it, it was always locked up, but…but there it was.' He drew in another shuddery breath. 'First I thought it was a toy, only it was so big in his little hand…'

* * *

'…I had never heard anything that loud before in my life. Or seen that much blood.'

His voice broke on the last few words, and Leanna, on the screen of his laptop, raised her hand as if to touch him to offer comfort, something horrified on her face.

'Bozer…I'm…I am so sorry about your brother.'

(But she didn't apologize about what she'd done to break that drug kingpin's lieutenant. She'd done her job, she'd done what had to be done, what she was well within her rights to do. She did, however, make a mental note to never, ever tell Bozer about anything like this again. She really, really didn't want to trigger bad memories or associations for him; it hurt her to see him hurting, it really, really did.)

* * *

Twenty minutes of more light-hearted conversation and comfort later (though with a little bit of some undercurrent of tension or something like that – it was a dramatic and serious first fight, to say the least, so Bozer wasn't too surprised or concerned about that), Bozer walked out of his room, still not quite back at emotional equilibrium.

Mac and Riley, who were in the kitchen cooking dinner (Jack and Diane were on a date), looked up at him and took in his expression and posture, and both immediately looked very, very concerned.

Bozer bit his lip and addressed his BFF, voice soft and a little rough.

'Josh.'

Understanding immediately crossed Mac's face, even as Riley looked even more confused, and the blonde immediately went over to the fridge and grabbed two tubs of ice cream, then seized three spoons from the cutlery drawer and the bottle of the good kind of chocolate sauce from the pantry. Mac opened the half-eaten tub of ice cream, and began liberally applying chocolate sauce, before sticking a spoon in it and pushing the tub over to Bozer, who'd made his way over to the counter and sat down on a stool.

As Mac opened the second tub of ice cream and applied chocolate sauce to it, Riley glanced between the two best friends, seemingly torn between asking who Josh was and why Bozer was so upset, and not wanting to upset him further.

(Riley got not wanting to talk about the painful elements of your past. She got not wanting to talk about some things, full stop.)

(There were some things she'd taken a very long time to be able to share with anyone, even her mom.)

(There were some things that she hadn't shared at all yet.)

(She'd spent two years in prison. She'd nearly gotten her mom killed. Her dad had tried to throw her mom around, and would have succeeded if not for Jack, and it wasn't the first time he'd done that either. She'd still decided to give him yet another second chance.)

(But she also understood how sharing helped. Helped you to heal. Helped, because you knew there were people out there, people who loved you, who were there for you, who'd take your pain so you didn't have to feel it if they could.)

In the end, she just decided to grab the bottle of really good whiskey from the shelf near the kitchen. She poured two fingers, neat, into three glasses, and offered the first to Bozer.

He took it and had a sip, then another. Then three mouthfuls of ice-cream. Then another sip of whiskey. Then some more ice cream.

She and Mac just sat down, her on Bozer's left, Mac on his right, sharing the second tub of ice cream and sipping at their own whiskey (though Riley noticed that Mac hardly touched his, taking very, very small and rather infrequent sips).

When his ice cream tub was almost empty, his whiskey glass drained, Bozer took a shuddery breath, glanced at Mac for a moment, who just nodded and squeezed his best friend's shoulder, looked at Riley, and spoke.

'Josh…Josh was my little brother…'

* * *

Four days after Mac, Bozer and Riley had binge-ate ice cream, drunk a little too much whiskey and marathoned Disney movies (Bozer hadn't felt like watching horror movies, for obvious reasons), Bozer put the finishing touches on a truly epic dinner (he made a point to cook a nice dinner for just him and his BFF at least once a month) and walked over to the door to the garage to fetch his roomie, knocking before entering, just in case.

(Long story short, there'd been a nasty incident that'd led to a hole being burned in one of Bozer's favourite shirts the last time he'd failed to knock.)

As Bozer opened the door, the blonde was tossing an old sheet over what looked an awful lot like a Thermomix (or, at least, a DIY Thermomix). His phone was held up in a claw-like holder that seemed to be mostly held together with duct tape, and Beth was on the screen, sitting on what was presumably her couch and wearing a science joke T-shirt (it had 'I found this' followed by a picture of a bone, then 'humerus' on it). Her eyes were bright, lit up in the way that Mac's were so often by science, and she was smiling widely.

'…it's a really awesome piece of engineering, and from what you've told me…he's got to love it!'

Bozer grin-smirked behind his BFF's back.

(Mac was totally making him that Thermomix that he'd really, really, really wanted, but they just didn't have space for in their kitchen.)

(And Bozer might just be looking at the future Mrs MacGyver.)

(Obviously, it was really early days yet, but he liked to think that he had an eye for this sort of thing.)

(He'd totally seen Diane and Jack's rekindled romance coming from a mile away.)

(Well, Riley had seen it first, but still.)

(And obviously, he'd just known really early on in his and Leanna's relationship that they were meant to be.)

(And sure, he'd been wrong about the whole Riley-being-his-future-girlfriend thing, but still, he had an eye for this!)

Mac grinned back at the woman on his phone.

'I've got to go, Beth. It's roommate date night. Talk tomorrow? You're off at 2, right?'

She nodded.

'Yes.' She waved. 'Enjoy your roommate date!'

Mac glanced at Bozer, appeared to sniff the air (which smelled delicious, even if Bozer said so himself), and grinned a little wider.

'Oh, I will.'

After she hung up, Bozer jogged his BFF with his elbow, waggling his eyebrows.

'But not as much as a date with a certain doctor…' He shot Mac a _look_. 'Seriously, when are you gonna actually ask her out, bro? You've had her number for, like, over a month!'

 _I maintain that one month of being in contact is not an excessively long period of time to wait before a first date._

 _To be fair to Bozer, after a similar time period had passed in his romantic relationship, he proposed._

 _I guess everything is relative._

He shrugged, not quite sure how to articulate his feelings on the matter.

(He found that as gargantuan as his vocabulary and his intellect were, things like this were tricky to explain.)

(Not like the latest theories on Einstein-Rosen Bridges or the mathematics behind metabolic flux analysis.)

'It's…it's nice, taking it slow, getting to know her, letting things build…'

'But what about wasting time?' Bozer gestured grandly. 'Life's short!'

Mac pulled a paperclip from his pocket and started absent-mindedly unwinding it.

'US life expectancy is at almost 79 years, life isn't that short anymore, Boze.' His roommate looked very unimpressed, and Mac gave a sheepish little smile. 'And it doesn't feel like a waste of time.' He lifted a shoulder. 'It's…it's like building a solid foundation for a house.' He'd been reading a couple of civil engineering books, which had apparently led to house construction being on his mind. 'It's not glamorous or eye-catching, it takes time, and you obviously need to move on to the rest of the house after you're done, or there's no point, but it's the most important part of construction.'

 _This…foundation building…that Beth and I are doing? I know it can't go on forever. I don't want it to go on forever, no matter what teasing Jack or Bozer have about me chickening out._

 _But I think it's important for a solid relationship. The sort of relationship that can be for life, till death do us part._

Mac always took his relationships seriously. It was just in his nature. He wasn't one for flings, and he approached even first dates with women he'd met on the internet with the goal of trying to see if they could build a real connection, the sort of special connection that was for the long haul, for life.

He firmly believed that such special connections took time, needed strong foundations.

(Yes, he'd developed feelings for Allie really rather quickly, but there'd been something about the Korman Challenge, that environment of being around so many people like them, and knowing that it'd all come to an end far too quickly, that'd encouraged that.)

(He'd also been much younger then.)

(And his and Nikki's relationship had, admittedly, started pretty quickly, though that'd been the product of her being in the driver's seat. Nikki didn't really do slow.)

(And he did admit that, while he firmly did not believe in love at first sight, you could definitely feel a _connection,_ the start of one of those special ones – or, at least, something that really had the potential to be one – really, really quickly.)

(He'd felt it himself. And then he'd felt its loss, practically just as quickly.)

Mac believed that true love, a lifelong relationship, the kind that led to marriage and death do us part and kids and maybe even a dog called Archimedes the Second, needed a strong foundation that simply could not be built in a short time frame.

He glanced at Bozer, and a realization kicked in (he scolded himself thoroughly for not realizing earlier), and he held up a hand and rather awkwardly continued.

'But that's just how I think it works for me, you know, each to their own, there's lots of different ways to build a house…'

 _Actually, there aren't._

 _And they all start with the foundation…_

 _Come on, MacGyver. Stop it there. Bozer's your best friend. You're supposed to be supportive!_

Bozer shook his head, clapping his best friend on the shoulder.

'You watch _way_ too much HGTV, man.'

 _Yeah, it's a guilty pleasure._

 _What?_

 _I like DIY!_

* * *

Bozer was unusually quiet during their roommate dinner date.

He seemed thoughtful, introspective.

Mac kicked himself internally repeatedly.

 _I really screwed up, didn't I?_

* * *

'I miss you.'

Bozer reached out and put his fingers on the screen, just as Leanna reached up to do the same, so that their hands were 'touching'.

'Miss you too. It'll be nice to go to sleep together, wake up together…' Her smile became a little bit more of a smirk. 'I have a very comfortable bed.'

He smirked back.

'So do I.'

Leanna's brow furrowed a little in confusion, but she let it go, as Bozer belatedly realized that what he'd said didn't make heaps and heaps of sense.

Sure, he and Leanna hadn't worked out exactly where they'd be living after the wedding yet, but they were clearly in agreeance that it'd be together, and that was what mattered, right?

* * *

AN: Oh, Bozer, Leanna…

I don't think canon has given us a conclusive answer as to whether or not Mac knows about Josh's death. I mean, it'd be a good reason for Mac's strong aversion to guns (or one of what I'm convinced is multiple reasons – see Multiple GSWs in _Two Paperclips and a Stick of Gum_ for my interpretation), but it does seem that Bozer was pretty young (probably younger than 11, which seems to be when he and Mac became friends) when it happened. Bozer said he hasn't talked about it ever since in 2.09, CD-ROM + Hoagie Foil, but if it happened in Mission City, I think it's likely that Mac knows about it, even if he and Bozer don't talk about it. (Alternatively, maybe this is why Mac and Bozer didn't become friends until the 5th grade? Maybe Bozer's family moved to Mission City after Josh's death? Then again, I think Bozer said something about Christmas in Mission City, 1993 when he was telling the story about his family's Christmas pastrami tradition in 2.11, Bullet + Pen…) In any case, in this AU, I'm declaring that Mac knows, but no-one else does (at least until the events of this chapter).


	8. Chapter 8

Mac, a wide, likely besotted, smile on his face, walked into his house, only to find Jack and Bozer sitting on the couch, smirking and bearing a distinct resemblance to a pair of vultures.

He sighed and rolled his eyes.

 _This is exactly why I didn't go buy the flowers until I left to pick Beth up._

 _If I'd had them with me when I left…well, I don't need to give them more ammunition._

 _They've already got plenty._

 _I just casually mentioned that Beth and I were going bowling and to Mama Colton's, and they started doing everything from smirking and waggling their eyebrows to criticizing my romance game._

 _Look, if escape rooms and movies in cemeteries are now considered acceptable date activities, I fail to see what's wrong with bowling and dinner at a diner that serves an incredible version of her favourite food._

 _Much more romantic, in my honest opinion._

'Alright, get it over with, you two.'

He glanced over at Riley and Diane, who were sitting at the kitchen counter, hoping for some sympathy and back-up. Riley seemed curious, but also seemed to be holding back out of respect to his privacy, while the look on Diane's face was very much _I'm just along for the ride._

Both women, however, looked very much like they were staying out of it. Riley just held up her hands, while Diane gave one of her knowing little smiles.

Mac sighed again internally and turned back to the duo on the couch, who simply smirked wider. Bozer waggled his eyebrows. Jack tapped his watch with a finger.

'You're back late, young man. It's almost curfew!'

Mac looked incredulous.

'A, it is 9:30 PM, Jack. That is really _not_ that late. B, I'm twenty-seven years old. I don't have a curfew!'

Bozer slapped Jack's arm.

'Hey, I'm surprised he's back so _early._ ' He waggled his eyebrows again. 'I was expecting him tomorrow...maybe in the afternoon.'

Mac's ears reddened.

 _My grandfather raised me to give a lady flowers, walk her to her front door after a date and kiss her goodnight, but to never, ever kiss a lady on the lips on a first date._

 _Look, I'm not the best at following rules, and tonight wasn't all that much of an exception – though I suppose two out of three isn't so bad, especially considering that my grandfather's number one rule was to respect and follow a lady's wishes – but…well, there are lines that I won't cross._

Jack shook his head at Mac's reaction.

'Did you at least kiss her, lover boy?'

Mac shook his head and rolled his eyes again, shrugging out of his jacket, hanging it up on the fork-based coat hooks by the door and heading to the kitchen for a glass of water.

'That's for me to know and you to never find out.'

He didn't have eyes in the back of his head, but Mac was 99.99% sure that Jack, Bozer, Riley and Diane exchanged a look that showed that they'd found out anyway.

(Bozer's stage-whispered _that means he totally did_ kind of made it really obvious.)

 _Well…they're not wrong._

 _But a gentleman never kisses and tells._

* * *

 **MACGYVER'S FAVOURITE RUNNING TRACK**

 **(NOT THAT HE'S ANYWHERE IN SIGHT)**

 **LA**

* * *

Bozer's breath came hard and fast as he and Riley jogged. He was trying to get his fitness back, after the whole being-stabbed thing.

His BFF had offered to run with him, of course, but Bozer had turned him down. Even though he knew Mac would modulate his speed to keep pace with Bozer, his best friend could already outrun him when Bozer had been at his fittest (had, actually, been able to outrun Bozer even when Bozer was taller than Mac), and Bozer simply thought that awesome as he was, Mac was not the ideal running partner in this situation.

Instead, Riley (who was fit but not a regular runner) had come with him.

She turned her head a little, noticeably breathing much more slowly and steadily than he was, and gave him a little smile, mouthing _come on, Boze!_

He smiled back as best as he could, and did his best to draw in a particularly deep breath, then another, picking up the pace just a fraction.

Riley's smile widened a little.

* * *

Later, after their run and a cool-down, Riley and Bozer sat on the grass, under a big, shady tree, sipping from their water bottles.

Bozer turned to grin at his friend.

'Thanks for coming with, Riley.'

She smiled back.

'No problem, Boze.' She knocked back the last of her water, then got to her feet. Bozer groaned at the thought of even moving, and she smirked lightly, teasingly at him. 'Thought Jack was the old man, not you!'

She held out a hand to him, and he took it.

Her nails had been a bright turquoise two days ago. Today, they were a metallic shade, a shimmery colour with hints of bronze.

It looked different in the broad daylight than it had in the poorly-light nightclub bathroom, but Bozer would recognize that nail polish anywhere.

He stared up at Riley's face, to find that she looked very, very confused.

'Uh…Boze?'

She tugged slightly at his hand, as if to help him heave himself up, or to remind him to do that, but Bozer just sat there and alternated between staring at her and staring at her hand, thoughts running through his head almost as fast as they ran through his best friend's.

He'd been so stupid.

It was _Riley._

It'd been _Riley._

He should have recognized her, should have remembered her.

It made so much more _sense_ , that it'd been her, not Leanna.

There was a rush of affection, and (he wasn't so happy to admit this – he was engaged, for goodness' sake!) that low-level of attraction he honestly still felt towards her, the remnants of that pull that'd never quite completely gone away.

Why hadn't she said anything?

 _Why?_

He looked up again, seeking her eyes.

'It was _you_.'

The way he said it, the fact that he was still holding onto her hand and had been staring at it for the last thirty seconds made it completely clear what he was talking about.

Riley, after a moment of silence, of processing, just gave a little nod.

'Yeah.'

Bozer's brow furrowed in confusion.

'Why didn't you say anything?'

Riley stared down at him for a moment, and Bozer swore that he saw a flash of something sad in there, before it was gone as soon as he thought he'd seen it. She tugged a little more firmly to pull him to his feet, then let go and shrugged.

'It wasn't just me in the end anyway.' She started walking back towards his car, her back to him so he couldn't see her face. 'And it didn't matter.'

* * *

 **MACGYVER'S RESIDENCE**

 **LA**

* * *

In his sleep, Bozer smiled softly.

* * *

' _Archie? Archie, where are you?'_

 _A skinny blonde boy who looked about five with blue eyes and an uncanny resemblance to his best friend as a child (he even had Mac's chin) was walking around the living room, looking through the vast number of hiding places available around the room. If there was any doubt to his parentage, he was also holding what Bozer recognized as a children's Swiss Army knife, one of those 'My First Swiss Army Knives' that he had bookmarked on his Google Chrome for future Baby MacGyvers. He was followed by a very small girl with dirty blonde hair and light brown eyes that were too big for her face who couldn't have been more than two. The girl definitely had Mac's nose and was absolutely swimming in a very familiar brown leather jacket. She put her hands on her hips and spoke, very fiercely for such a small thing._

' _Archimedes the Second, come out now!'_

 _She couldn't quite pronounce 'Archimedes' properly, but made a very good attempt._

 _A third child, a girl who also seemed to be about five, with dark curly hair under a Dallas Cowboys hat and Riley's eyes, ran into the room._

' _Nick, Maria, it's dinnertime!' She reached out and grabbed the hands of the two siblings, and started tugging them towards the deck. 'It's burgers, and you know that my daddy makes the best burgers in the whole world!'_

 _Nick and Maria nodded sagely, as if it was a scientific fact, before the blonde boy's expression shifted a little, to something that was extremely reminiscent of his father when he was being a bit pedantic._

' _No, Hedy, he makes the best burgers in the entire universe!'_

 _His little sister nodded enthusiastically._

' _That's what our daddy says!'_

' _And our daddy is almost-always right!'_

' _Grandpa Jack says so!'_

' _And everyone says that Grandpa Jack's really wise!'_

' _Even if he acts so silly!'_

 _The girl with Riley's eyes nodded in agreement._

' _Mommy says he's wise because he's so_ old _.'_

 _The three kids clearly all thought Grandpa Jack was positively ancient._

 _The thought made Bozer grin in a way that was almost a smirk, before he almost had a heart-attack (metaphorically speaking, anyway) as a man who was unmistakeably an older version of him, holding a spatula and wearing an apron that had World's No. 1 Chef on it, with the Chef crossed out and replaced by Dad._

' _Hedy, kiddo, are the Wonder Twins too busy experimenting with slime to come eat my awesomely awesome burgers? 'Cause if they are, I'm gonna give theirs to Grandpa Jack!'_

 _Hedy just shot Mac's two kids a look a somewhat smug and very knowing look, then looked up at the older Bozer._

' _Nope, Daddy. They're ready for dinner, aren't they?'_

 _She looked very pointedly at the other two kids, looking very much like her mother._

 _Maria looked up at her Uncle Bozer, looking very confused._

' _Nick and I aren't twins, Uncle Bozer.' She poked at his leg, which was about as high as she could reach. 'And you wouldn't give our burgers to Grandpa Jack. Grandma Diane and Auntie Riley and Mommy wouldn't let you! Because of his…'_

 _Her face screwed up a little in thought as she tried to think of the word, and her brother chipped in for her._

' _Cholesterol levels!'_

 _He couldn't quite say 'cholesterol', sounding out the word slowly, but he got it across._

 _The older Bozer grinned fondly, holding his hands up._

' _You got me there, kiddos! Seriously, you three are so smart...'_

* * *

Bozer woke up, feeling confused and unsettled, knowing that he'd had a very strange dream, but not really able to remember anything beyond a little girl with Riley's eyes looking up at him, calling him daddy and telling him that she and her friends were ready for dinner.

He sat up, and turned off the alarm on his phone, noting that he had an unread text message from Leanna.

Funnily enough, that didn't elicit the same little rush of excitement, or even a soft little smile, or even a little surge of affection and interest that it once had.

That, he realized, had become a bit of a trend lately, in the last handful of weeks, though he couldn't quite pin down when it'd started.

He shrugged half-heartedly.

The honeymoon period, he knew, couldn't last forever. Eventually, even the healthiest and most loving of couples settled down into something that was less romance-novel-worthy, but comfortable and happy and loving nonetheless.

…Still, he wasn't sure if it was supposed to be like this. Was it supposed to happen so quickly? Or quite like this?

He shook his head a little to clear those thoughts, opening up Leanna's text to reply, and, for once, being at a loss for what to say.

There was so much swimming around his mind.

' _We're not ready for that yet, Boze.'_

' _You convinced him that his kid, his four-year-old kid, had been killed by his boss!'_

' _It's…it's like building a solid foundation for a house.'_

'… _it didn't matter.'_

' _Nope, Daddy. They're ready for dinner, aren't they?'_

He put down his phone, text unanswered, sitting in bed, lost in thought.

* * *

'Bro, can I ask you a personal question?'

Over breakfast that morning, Bozer looked across the table at his BFF, who was reading the newspaper while he ate his Honey-Nut Cheerios, hair damp from his usual shower after his usual morning run.

'Of course.'

'Have you ever thought you were going to marry a woman? That she was your right one?'

Mac put down his spoon, something concerned in his eyes, and something a tiny bit sad, a tiny bit hurt, too.

(Just a tiny bit. A really tiny bit.)

'Yeah. Once.'

He really didn't need to specify exactly who that woman was. The look in his eyes, the way he said it, made it obvious to his best friend.

Bozer silently cursed Nikki again, though he was also firmly convinced that the fact that Mac _definitely_ no longer thought she was his right one was a good thing.

(After all, his BFF's right one definitely couldn't be a woman who'd _cheat_ on him for _months_.)

'Only once?'

He was genuinely surprised by that.

Mac had had it really bad for Frankie when he'd been at MIT. He'd also really, really liked Allie, and even though Bozer knew very little about the woman, he also knew that she and Mac must have connected really deeply, and really quickly, given how fast things had developed between them, relative to how old-fashioned his BFF was about this sort of thing. And that connection that had built between him and Zoe was so fast and so special that it really seemed to belong in a romance novel, in fiction, was one of those things that mere mortals could only dream of happening to them. Not to mention, Bozer was pretty firmly convinced that Mac and his new girlfriend/Bozer's twice-former doctor were totally one of those sweet, adorable and wholesome couples that everyone knew would get a happily ever after from one of those _Love, Actually-_ type rom-coms, like the body double couple from that iconic movie.

The blonde just nodded.

'Yeah.' He shifted a little in his seat. 'Well, I can't say that I haven't…I guess, fantasized about potential or possibilities if…well, things had gone a little differently, but yeah.' Mac was silent for a moment, before he held up his hands a little awkwardly. 'But we have very different, uh, romance games, Boze; it's not really one-size-fits-all, so…'

He trailed off rather awkwardly, but still eyeing Bozer with concern.

Not that Bozer completely noticed, since he was lost in his own thoughts, eating his Cheerios on autopilot.

It was a sign of Bozer's immense distraction that he didn't even ask Mac if he thought that Beth could possibly, potentially, be his right one. If Mac thought that one day, he might realize that she was the woman he was going to marry.

 _For the record, between you and me?_

 _My answer would be yes._

* * *

'Jack, do you ever wonder what'd have happened if you and Diane had gotten married when Riley was a kid?'

As the two of them prepared dinner (Mac and Riley were working late at JPL; they had a probe deadline to meet, and everyone was pulling overtime), Bozer paused in his coriander-chopping and looked over at the older man who was peeling potatoes.

Jack eyed him for a moment, something concerned and also something that Bozer couldn't quite read in his eyes, before turning back to the potatoes and speaking.

'It'd never have worked out.' He looked back over at Bozer. 'I was too scared of what I was coming to mean to Ri, and her, 'cause of that. Scared of being Ri's dad. And you know she was married before, and how that went.' Jack shrugged. 'Still don't know if she'd ever wanna marry again.'

'You cool with that?'

Jack nodded. He knew he was implicitly admitting that he and Diane were that sort of serious, had progressed to that level of serious (though, he thought, when they'd started things up between them again, they'd probably both acknowledged implicitly that it _was_ that kind of serious – it _had_ to be; there could _not_ be anything casual between them at all, not with their history and Riley), but frankly, he was comfortable with that, and he knew Diane would be too.

'It's a piece of paper, Boze, at the end of the day. Yeah, it's a big public declaration, vows and promises and all, but…it ain't the big thing. Ain't that important. If your relationship's not strong and healthy enough to go the distance, all that piece of paper's gonna do is make it harder to untangle your lives. And if it is strong and healthy enough to go the distance…well, whether you have that bit of paper's not gonna mean a thing.'

That growing, itchy, doubtful feeling in Bozer's brain grew stronger.

* * *

 **RILEY'S RESIDENCE**

 **LA**

* * *

'Riley?' Bozer paused _Resident Evil 7_ , just as Riley was about to blow the head off a Molded. She turned to him, looking a bit annoyed, which quickly faded as she took in the look on his face. He ploughed on before he could second-guess himself. 'I need you to be straight with me. Do you reckon Leanna and I should get married?'

Riley stared at him for a long, long moment, something inscrutable in her eyes. Then, after that long silence, she spoke, her voice uncharacteristically soft.

'If you think that you would be happy to spend the rest of your life with her, that you can love her for that long…then yeah, yeah you should.'

After another moment of staring at him, that same inscrutable something in her eyes, she unpaused the game and started killing Molded as if they'd personally offended her.

* * *

AN: And the truth is out! The drama begins! And yes, that dream sequence was so, so much fun to write…


	9. Chapter 9

**MACGYVER'S RESIDENCE**

 **LA**

* * *

'…Mock it again and no pie for you!'

Mac held up his hands, a grin on his face, as his girlfriend poked him in the sternum, her eyes narrowed teasingly.

'But that'd be cruel and unusual punishment!'

Riley, Jack and Diane all exchanged a fond, amused glance, as the young hacker grabbed the ice cream from the freezer, while Jack passed his girlfriend a drink.

Bozer, who was bringing in the last of his grilling supplies, suddenly stopped in his tracks and spoke, rather loudly.

'I think I need to call off my wedding.' He shook his head. 'No, I _know_ I have to call off my wedding.'

There was a long silence, so quiet that one could hear a paperclip drop, before everyone started talking at once.

'I should probably get going; I don't think you want me here, considering…'

'I heard that right, right?'

'…Yeah. You did.'

'…definitely something that has to be done in person; Riley, can you use your algorithm to get Boze a flight?'

'…Bozer?'

At that moment, the doorbell rang, and an almost-comical silence fell again, before Jack spoke again, characteristically lightening the moment.

'No-one ordered Uber Eats, right?'

Mac, meanwhile, skirted the kitchen counter and opened the door…only to reveal Leanna on the other side. She looked very uncomfortable, but also resolute. Certain.

She was, also, notably, toying with her engagement ring, held in the palm of her hand.

'Is…Bozer home? We really need to talk.'

There were some things, Leanna thought, that really, really had to be done in person.

* * *

Bozer and Leanna, sitting on the couch in the living room, alone in the house (everyone else had left with flimsy excuses and the best of intentions – Mac had muttered something about needing to make it up to Beth for mocking her practice 4th of July pie and taking her to Mama Colton's to buy her a slice of Mama's amazing buttermilk pie, while Jack had declared that it was some hitherto-unknown anniversary of him and Diane and Riley as a family that had to be celebrated with Skeeball), stared at each other, uncomfortable, awkward and sad.

They'd agreed to call off the wedding.

They'd also agreed to call their relationship quits.

And they both knew now that they really, really had rushed into things. That maybe their love for each other was infatuation, or not quite real. They'd moved too fast, ruining it, and maybe, just maybe, if they hadn't, they could have been something.

Maybe, if they hadn't moved so fast, so recklessly, they could have been each other's right one.

Or, Leanna thought (she wasn't proud of it, not at all, but she did think it), maybe they could have been each other's right ones if Riley wasn't Bozer's friend.

(There was no real resentment towards the other young woman there, not truly. Well, perhaps there was a little – she was human, after all – but she knew that neither of them would ever want to hurt her, and that neither of them really had, at least not intentionally, anyway.)

(Bozer, she knew, would never have cheated on her.)

(Well, he might have, if this had gone on, a little bit, emotionally, but he and Riley had been close long before Leanna had met him, and she couldn't possibly expect that connection to be cut off or pulled back because of her.)

(She couldn't get in between their friendship, that absolutely wasn't fair, just like she couldn't possibly get in the way of Mac and Bozer's friendship, or how no decent woman – and Beth and Diane were very decent women – could possibly fathom getting in the way of Mac and Jack's epic bromance.)

Leanna held out the ring to her former fiancé, who just shook his head.

'That…that's yours, Leanna. I can't take it.'

She smiled sadly.

'I…I don't want to keep it, Bozer.'

She really didn't want the reminder lying around. She wanted a clean break. She thought that they _needed_ the clean break.

Bozer stared at the diamond ring in her palm for a long moment, before he spoke.

'Riley and Jack and Mac and me do some volunteering for a domestic violence shelter downtown; they're doing an auction, all proceeds to charity in a couple of weeks…'

Leanna nodded, putting the ring on the coffee table, closer to Bozer's side than hers.

'Something good coming from…' She gestured vaguely between the two of them. '… _this_ sounds good.'

'Good.'

There was a very awkward silence for a moment, before Leanna gave him a rather sad, but very genuine smile, and stood.

'All the best, Bozer.'

He smiled back at her in the exact same way.

'You too, Leanna. You too.'

She took a deep breath, and glanced at him and the ring one last time, before turning away and walking towards the door without any hesitation.

Bozer just stared as his former fiancée walked out of his home and out of his life, feeling oddly relieved, lighter, in a way that he couldn't quite explain but thought that meant they really had made the right decision, the wise decision.

He sighed, got up and walked to the kitchen, helping himself to a generous slice of Beth's blueberry-raspberry-buttermilk 4th of July pie.

* * *

 **DIANE'S RESIDENCE**

 **LA**

* * *

'What do you think she's gonna do now?'

Diane lifted her head from where it was leaning against his shoulder and the left side of his chest as they lounged on the couch, watching _Red,_ starring Bruce Willis. She looked at him for a long moment, eyes piercing, understanding exactly what Jack meant.

(He didn't mean _now_ now. That answer was obvious – support Bozer and be there for him as a friend, as family.)

(He meant after Bozer had healed a little more.)

Diane let out a little sigh.

'I don't know.' She paused. 'But what I do know is that my baby girl's got great instincts.'

Jack nodded in agreement.

'She's real awesome. She deserves a guy who's just as awesome. Who'll treat her right, love and respect and appreciate her, someone she can always count on.' Jack paused. 'Sure, Boze is a little inappropriate and sometimes creepy and definitely weird, and he seriously needed that kick up the butt, but he's a really great guy. Great heart. One of the best.'

Diane nodded, then fell silent for a moment, absent-mindedly rubbing Jack's shoulder.

'Our girl's not a girl anymore.' Jack gave a little smile and a snort, remembering one of the countless arguments they'd had with teenage Riley about that. 'We gotta take a step back, let her do what she thinks is best.' The fact that that didn't meant withdrawing any support didn't have to be said. They were there for her, they simply couldn't intervene or interfere like they might have done when she was younger. Like their protective instincts wanted them to do. 'The hardest part of parenting isn't changing diapers, 2 am feedings or the terrible twos. It's not helping with science fair projects about science that you haven't done since middle school, or giving The Talk or trying to talk your daughter out of getting her bellybutton pierced. It's letting go.'

Jack smiled and nodded in agreement.

'Wise words. Who said that?'

Diane just smiled knowingly at him.

'Diane Davis.'

He grinned and pressed a kiss to her cheek.

'That's my girl.'

* * *

 **MACGYVER'S RESIDENCE**

 **LA**

* * *

His stomach full with a burger that was _almost_ as good as his (it turned out that Mac actually knew just about every secret that Bozer had in his secret recipe – he supposed that his BFF wasn't smarter than Einstein for nothing), Bozer smiled at Riley and Mac, who were sitting either side of him on the couch, as the credits for _I Know What You Did Last Summer_ started rolling. Both of them smiled back, then Riley got up and headed over to the TV to start up _I Still Know What You Did Last Summer,_ while Mac walked over to the kitchen. The blonde reached into the freezer, and pulled out several pints of Ben & Jerry's that he'd picked up on the way home from work. He stacked them in his arms, then grabbed three spoons and stacked them carefully on top and walked back over to the couch.

(How he managed to not drop anything, Bozer didn't know, but he figured that if he asked, the answer would essentially boil down to _physics, Boze_.)

Mac sat back down as the movie started to play, and passed Bozer a tub of Phish Food (Bozer's favourite Ben and Jerry's flavour) and a spoon, before handing Riley a pint of Vanilla Caramel Fudge. In response, the hacker simply passed Mac a pint of Blondie Ambition, gesturing towards her hair. Bozer burst into giggles as his roommate shot Riley a look that clearly said _haha, very funny._

(Still, Mac took the ice cream, opened it and had a spoonful, then muttered something about it not being anywhere near as good as rocky road, but being delicious nonetheless…even if the name was a pun worthy of Jack.)

Bozer chuckled again.

He had the absolute best best friends.

* * *

'Bro, I'm home!'

Bozer, a bag of Chinese takeaway in his right hand (it was Wednesday, his and Mac's takeout night, since neither of them felt much like cooking on Hump Day), walked in the front door.

'Uh…out on the deck, Boze!'

Mac sounded a little bit like he did when the grill caught fire. Or when his modified Christmas crackers had been a little _too_ explosive and burned marks into the deck so deep they'd had to replace several boards. Or when he'd accidentally turned an entire load of Bozer's laundry pink when he'd 'improved' their laundry powder.

Thankfully, he sounded nothing like he'd had during the Iron Dog Incident. Or the Football Stadium Incident.

Bozer put down the takeaway, shaking his head fondly, and headed onto the deck, where his BFF was covering what looked like a large drone (or, at least, the top sorta-helicopter-like part of a drone) with a tarp.

His brow furrowed, and he pointed at it.

'Why are you making some giant drone thing, bro?' Bozer paused. 'That _is_ what it is, right?'

'Uh…essentially, yeah. It should be able to attain an elevation of thirty feet and move at 5 mph while carrying an average adult male pig, provided I've optimized it for the average weight distribution of said pig correctly…'

His face screwed up a little in thought, as if he was double-checking his math in his head, and Bozer just raised his eyebrows and stared incredulously at his best friend.

'You're making something to make pigs _fly_?' Bozer glanced between the tarp-covered pig-carrier and Mac. ' _Why?_ Did you watch one of those _Mythbusters_ episodes again? Was it the cat-herding? The bull in the china shop? The poop polishing? The lead balloon?'

Mac rubbed the back of his neck, looking, curiously, a little awkward and uncomfortable and sheepish, as well as something that Bozer would best describe as a combination of kid-Mac-in-an-appliances-shop, besotted and smug, in the impressing-an-attractive-woman way.

'It's, uh, an inside joke with Beth.'

 _I am currently in a happy, healthy relationship with a very intelligent, beautiful woman who appreciates and understands the crazy things my brain spits out. In fact, I think she might like me less if I didn't have said crazy brain._

 _Yeah, I know. Sometimes, I don't quite believe my good fortune._

 _On the other hand…my best friend's engagement has recently ended._

 _I'm trying to be considerate._

Bozer just stared at him for a long moment, something soft and affectionate flickering across his face, before shaking his head and pointing at Mac.

'Bro, if I didn't know what there's no way you'd get me drugged or stabbed just to pull this off, I'd say you were feeling a little lonesome and Frankenstein-ed her into existence…seriously, are you sure she isn't some android girlfriend that Jack ordered for you off the internet?'

'Uh…'

 _One of the reasons why Boze and I got along so well when we were kids was because we both had very powerful imaginations._

 _Our lab became everything from a castle to a spaceship to a submarine to an actual, real-life lab._

 _Still - and I'm aware of how this sounds, coming from me - sometimes, his imagination goes so far I can't follow it._

 _Like this instance._

* * *

'…How about we all go play Skeeball, then get some really amazing, not-greasy Margherita from that place a couple blocks away that you love?' Bozer, who was sitting in bed in his pyjamas despite it being 11 am on a Saturday (he didn't feel like doing much, save stay in bed all day, today), opened his mouth to protest. He really just felt like moping today, honestly…though maybe it would be nice to get out of the house and do something fun and silly…then again, he really didn't feel like doing anything more than wallowing. Riley, however, cut him off before he could say anything. 'Come on, Boze. Friends don't let friends mope all weekend! Do I have to crack out the emojis?'

Jack sent repeat texts with increasingly more frantic emojis when he felt like one of his friends needed an 'intervention' and/or some Jack-wisdom.

Bozer managed to crack a smile and held up his hands.

'Oh no, not the emojis! Anything but the emojis!'

'I'll pick you up in half an hour.'

That was very much an order. Bozer gave a little smile and got out of bed.

* * *

 **RILEY'S RESIDENCE**

 **LA**

* * *

As she hung up her phone call with Bozer, Riley opened up a group text with four other members and sent out a message.

 **We have a Code Blue. Enact Plan S.**

She rolled her eyes a little (fondly, but exasperatedly) at the ridiculous codes and plans. That was what she got for letting Jack in on it.

Seriously, sometimes she thought the man was five.

* * *

 **THE GANG'S FAVOURITE SKEEBALL PLACE**

 **(YES, YOU READ THAT RIGHT)**

 **(THEY'RE ALL A LITTLE DORKY)**

 **(BUT WE WOULDN'T HAVE THEM ANY OTHER WAY)**

 **LA**

* * *

Bozer and Riley walked into the Skeeball place, and met Mac and Beth at the door. The two of them, Bozer knew, had been on a breakfast date, and Mac had mentioned something about a special event at La Brea Tar Pits, but there they were, both smiling.

'You guys didn't have to-'

'Skeeball is fun, Bozer!'

Beth sounded very much like she meant it. There was also something fierce in the tilt of her chin, something that very much told him not to argue with her.

Mac shot his BFF a teasing little smirk, leaning closer to him and stage-whispering.

'You know I'm pretty good at Skeeball, Boze.' He spread his palms wide. 'It's good for my romance game.'

Riley gave a snort of laughter, and Beth giggled, the two of them sharing a fondly exasperated head-shake, before the latter spoke, addressing her boyfriend.

'Given your skill at bowling, mini-golf, pool and darts, and the fact that you really _are_ good at almost everything, it is only logical that you are also very good at Skeeball…' Beth poked Mac in the sternum with her pointer finger, narrowing her eyes at him teasingly. 'Are you _sure_ you aren't an alien or a superhuman?'

He laughed and held up his hands as they walked into the Skeeball place proper.

'Last time I checked, I'm 100% _Homo sapiens sapiens.'_

Bozer and Riley exchanged a glance.

'…Their romance game is weird.'

Riley snorted, a very much _you think?_ sound.

'Yeah…but it works for them.' They found Jack and Diane in front of one of the machines. Jack was showing off by throwing the ball backwards. Diane looked, oddly, both impressed and amused and at the same time, _not_ impressed. (It was a strange expression.) 'Speaking of weird flirting…'

* * *

 **MACGYVER'S JEEP**

 **ON-ROUTE TO MAC AND BOZER'S FAVOURITE ARCADE**

 **LA**

* * *

'Seriously, bro, you really don't have to do this.' Bozer was well aware that Beth had tonight off, and the next morning as well. 'Yeah, I know, bros before…' He trailed off sheepishly. That was _not_ the sort of word that he should use to describe Mac's girlfriend, who was also rapidly becoming one of his good friends. In fact, if he used that word to describe any woman, he knew that, at the very least, his mama, Riley and probably Jack would kick his ass, and Mac would look disappointed. Very disappointed. Which sucked, because that was like looking at your kicked puppy. 'You get the point. There's totally somewhere else, with someone else, you wanna be!'

Mac finished parking the car and looked Bozer dead in the eye.

'A, right now, I want to play _Pac-Man_ with my best friend.' His smile shifted to something that Bozer would definitely call besotted as he got out of the car. 'And B, Beth sent me along with a prescription for you.' Mac held up his arms and hugged Bozer. 'Oxytocin, to be delivered by hug.'

Bozer chuckled, slapping his BFF's back a few times, before letting go.

'Yeah, she's definitely my favourite girlfriend of yours.'

Mac laughed, but there was something very moved in his eyes.

(Bozer was his best friend, had been ever since the fifth grade. His approval meant an awful lot to him, and he knew it'd mean a lot to Beth too.)

The look in his eyes shifted to something more wry, teasing.

'I dare you to say that to Penny.'

Bozer chuckled again, holding up his hands.

'Hey, our mutual ex-girlfriend's awesome, she'd get it!'

* * *

 **CHEZ DALTON**

 **(WHICH MIGHT BE CHEZ DAVIS-DALTON SOONER RATHER THAN LATER…)**

 **(YOU'LL SEE)**

 **LA**

* * *

Mac, Bozer and Riley walked into Jack's apartment, letting themselves in with Riley's key (after knocking, loudly and repeatedly – there were some things that one didn't want to see, and your father-figure's backside was one of them, and walking in on your parents was even worse), then paused just inside the entryway.

They hadn't been to Jack's in a while (Mac's was their go-to place for hanging out, being more spacious and having the deck and fire-pit and a really nice view of the LA skyline), but there'd definitely been some changes.

There were two throws over the couch, as well as a whole heap of extra cushions that they knew Jack would not have bought himself.

Next to his collection of katanas, there was some tasteful, elegant Japanese artwork, one depicting a samurai and a dragon, and one depicting a beautiful landscape.

There also appeared to be more dishes in his cupboards, and a woman's coat that looked very familiar hung by the door.

Slowly, Bozer and Mac just turned to Riley, who shook her head and rolled her eyes, though they could both read the fond exasperation in her eyes as easily as a book.

'They are _way_ too old to be doing the moving-in-together-by-stealth thing.'

Mac raised an eyebrow as Jack and Diane's voices could be heard from the other side of the door. Judging from their conversation, they'd just come from the laundry room downstairs. Diane was insisting that she was absolutely never doing his laundry, and Jack was mock-grumbling.

'I don't think they realize it.'

* * *

 **JACK'S FAVOURITE BAR**

 **LA**

* * *

Jack and Bozer sat at a quiet table in the corner, sipping beer and eating wings in companionable silence.

(Only a moment of companionable silence – they'd been bickering about Bruce Willis films for at least half an hour, loudly and passionately, but had fallen silent when the waitress had brought over their wings, focusing on eating instead of talking for the moment.)

(Riley had largely gotten them out of their habits of eating with their mouths full.)

Mac was at Beth's (something to do with IKEA furniture – Mac seriously had to be the only person in the world who enjoyed assembling it), and Riley and Diane were having a mother-daughter night, so Jack had invited Bozer out to his favourite bar.

The younger man swallowed the last of his wing, and put the bone down, wiping his mouth with a napkin.

'It…it gets better, right?'

Jack put down his own picked-clean wing, locked eyes with Bozer and nodded, with all the experience and authority of a man who'd had his heart broken (probably more than) his fair share of times.

'Yeah, it does.' He raised his beer solemnly at the younger man. 'Especially when you ain't alone.'

That made Bozer give a soft little smile.

* * *

AN: Bozer has the world's best friends-who-are-family. Period.

I would like to say, Leanna is not meant to be the 'villain' of this story. It was my intention that she, Bozer and Riley all have good reasons for behaving how they do, and the choices that they make in this story. None of them are perfect, they all make mistakes and probably do things that they shouldn't, things that in hindsight, they probably realize they shouldn't have. I hope that you feel that they're all quite sympathetic! Incidentally, this is essentially how I'd like the Bozer/Leanna relationship to end in canon – I think that Bozer and Leanna really do care a lot about each other, they really do love each other, even if I feel they don't have very good chemistry, aren't a great match and won't be able to go the distance as a result, never mind the practical obstacle of their respective jobs and the fact that they're not actually allowed to be in contact! I like the idea that they do break up, but while they aren't exactly still friends, there's still respect there and should either of them ever desperately need the help of the other, they'll be there for each other. So, somewhere between Sarah/Jack and Mac/Nikki on the scale of 'getting along with your ex'?


	10. Chapter 10

**MACGYVER'S RESIDENCE**

 **LA**

* * *

'…Maybe I should go put together some dark chocolate mousse or something, you know, help him set the mood…'

Riley, on his laptop screen, looked incredulously at Bozer.

Mac and Beth were on a special date at a nice, slightly-fancy restaurant. Yes, the two of them were very weird, but she knew that there were _some_ things that they definitely had normal preferences for.

'Bozer, the best _good bro_ thing you can do is stay in your room…maybe with headphones on.'

'…Yeah, you're probably right…'

Riley snorted.

' _Probably_?'

'…I love my bro, but there's some things I don't wanna see…or hear.'

* * *

The next morning, a Saturday, Bozer leisurely got out of bed and wandered into the kitchen (he figured it was safe now, since it was morning and all – he knew that Mac had come home last night; he'd seen and heard his car pull in at around 9, and he'd caught a glimpse of Beth with him, which he'd taken as his cue to turn the volume on _Jurassic Park_ up), to find his BFF's girlfriend stirring pancake batter, hair in a loose braid, wearing jeans and a comfortable-looking striped long-sleeved T-shirt.

Beth smiled at him and waved as best as she could, considering she was holding a whisk with one hand and the pancake batter bowl with the other.

She looked so put together, that for a moment, Bozer wondered if she'd actually stayed the night, or whether Mac had driven her home sometime after Bozer had fallen asleep and she'd come back for breakfast in the morning.

Then, his BFF popped up from where it appeared he'd been under the sink.

'All fixed, we don't have to explain to Bozer-' He immediately shut up as he noticed his roommate. 'Uh…morning, Boze.'

For a moment, Bozer debated asking exactly how the sink and/or the plumbing associated with it had wound up broken.

Then, he decided that he really, really didn't want to know.

* * *

 _A free word of advice._

 _Don't attempt to demonstrate to your girlfriend how it is possible, albeit highly improbable, that common, everyday usage of a kitchen sink can lead to a cascade of events triggering a movie-style spurt of water at a quarter to eleven after sharing half a bottle of wine with said girlfriend, especially not while she is wearing an extremely flattering, to a distracting extent, dress._

* * *

 **MAMA COLTON'S DINER**

 **LA**

* * *

As Riley walked up to the counter at Mama's to pay the bill, leaving Bozer, Mac and Beth at their booth (she'd insisted that this time was her treat), the extremely handsome man in a very well-cut, well-fitting coat with a cocky swagger who'd walked in a little while earlier and immediately went to hug the diner's proprietor, Mama Colton, looked up from his slice of buttermilk pie and smiled at her in a way that was almost a smirk.

(He'd been watching her, pretty subtly, but she'd noticed.)

(She got the feeling that he'd let her notice deliberately.)

(That if he'd wanted to look without being noticed, she'd never have known.)

'I'm Billy, Billy Colton. Lovely to make your acquaintance.' He nodded at Bozer, subtly, then turned back to her. 'He your boyfriend?'

Riley shook her head, well aware that it was probably a little too fast and a little too awkward.

'No, no…we're just friends. And I'm Riley.'

He eyed her for a long moment, and she had the feeling that he knew exactly what had gone through her head.

'You're the kind of woman who's awesome and badass in every single way…except when it comes to romance-'

She snorted.

'You don't know me.'

He raised his hands in supplication, but that knowing, almost cocky, smug, look didn't leave his eyes.

'No, but I've met women like you, and I'm a bounty hunter. In my line of work, if you don't get really good at reading people, you'll get in trouble real fast.' He looked straight into her eyes, and despite the fact that it was obvious he was pulling the moves on her, there was something genuinely…caring, concerned, perhaps, in his eyes anyway. Like he really, really wanted to impress what he was saying on her. A very brief thought, the thought that Mama Colton clearly had raised her kids right, flashed across her mind. 'You need and deserve a man that you can count on. One that always comes through and never lets you down. One who'll show you proper respect and appreciation, who'll buy you flowers just to do that…' He nodded towards Mac, who'd just handed Beth something made out of a paperclip and an empty sugar packet that'd made her burst into giggles. 'Like MacGyver does for Doc Florence Nightingale.'

His nickname for Beth made Riley give a snort of laughter.

'You know, he's only bought her flowers once.'

Billy actually looked genuinely surprised at that.

(Riley supposed that good at reading people or not, Mac's particular brand of weird was really, really, really weird and took some getting used to.)

'He is _definitely_ a man who's been raised to show a woman proper appreciation and respect.'

Riley nodded, having heard plenty about Harry Jackson.

'Oh, yeah, definitely. But we're talking more…a potato sack dress, aloe vera in an upcycled pot made from old pipes and gears, a pancake-making toaster…' Billy's left eyebrow had risen almost comically high. 'They're really weird, but it works for them.'

He nodded wryly, as if to say, _I see,_ before looking at her in that serious way again.

'You deserve a great guy like that. One you can trust, 'cause…and I'm just guessing here, but I reckon you've got some trust issues.' He paused, as Bozer, unbidden, came to her mind. She chastised herself for that, because she knew he definitely, definitely would have noticed the way that her eyes flicked to him for just a millisecond. 'And you really do deserve him. You deserve to be as happy as you could possibly be.'

It really was as if he could see right into her soul.

It was a little disconcerting, actually.

It brought up her usual defences, that sarcasm, that snark, that she could wield to keep people at a distance.

'Again, you don't know me.'

Billy smiled, again in a way that was almost a smirk.

'Again, I'm a bounty hunter. If I couldn't read a mark, I'd be a pretty awful one.'

Riley raised an eyebrow.

'So I'm a mark?'

He smirked a little wider.

'I got my eyes on you.'

It was flirty, definitely, but also it seemed like there wasn't a lot of intent behind it, as if he knew a lost cause when he saw it.

That realization startled Riley a little.

Yes, she knew that she had very strong feelings for Bozer. She had for months now.

But to the extent that she now wouldn't even consider another very, very attractive and clearly good man?

Well, she supposed, she and Bozer had become a little closer (or should that be even closer?) since his break-up with Leanna.

Their video-game nights had become more frequent. She was helping him out with his latest movie project, starring Penny Parker. Just last week, they'd gone to grab lemon curd donuts from this awesome food truck he'd found out about online. The week before that, it'd been trying out freakshakes at another place he'd learned about via his (supposedly secret) food blog. And the week before that, they'd had gourmet hot dogs…

And it didn't really feel like it was just because they were the two third wheels, the two single ones in their group now, just hanging out because they had no-one else.

Billy's expression just grew more knowing, and he returned to his pie as his mother came over to process her payment.

Riley handed over the cash on autopilot, mind definitely occupied with other matters.

* * *

Meanwhile, Bozer was staring at Billy.

He knew it was absolutely irrational, but he didn't like him. Not at all.

Guys who wore hats and waistcoats like that, in his opinion, simply weren't good enough for someone as awesome as Riley, simply wouldn't treat her right.

(He completely and conveniently ignored the fact that he had a very similar waistcoat and hat.)

(Two, actually.)

* * *

Mac and Beth, watching Bozer stare at Billy, just exchanged a glance.

* * *

 **MACGYVER'S RESIDENCE**

 **LA**

* * *

As he watched Bozer glance at Riley while she wasn't looking (for the sixteenth time in thirty-six hours), then Riley look at Bozer while he wasn't looking (for the ninth time in the same time-frame; she was clearly more subtle than he was), Mac kicked himself internally, repeatedly.

He'd noticed Riley staring at Bozer over the last few months, of course he had, but he'd obviously misinterpreted the way she'd been looking at him.

He'd thought that look in her eyes had simply been concern, because she (like they all had, honestly) had had her doubts about his marriage to Leanna, or been worried about him after he'd been stabbed, mixed with a bit of longing or jealousy or fear, that she'd lose some of that closeness she had with Bozer because of his relationship with Leanna.

(Mac had, even, gone out of his way to try and comfort Riley about that, reassuring her that Bozer loved her and that they'd always be friends, even with Leanna in the picture.)

(Yeah, he'd really put his foot in it.)

(Noticing this sort of thing – at least when he wasn't an involved party – was reasonably up his alley. He was pretty decent at that, since he was observant by nature and had a brain that simply took in and recalled a substantial portion of the stimuli he was exposed to.)

(Interpreting it correctly…now that was definitely _not_ up his alley. Objectively, he probably wasn't as bad as people thought he was, or as bad as he thought he was at times like these, but he definitely wasn't anywhere near talented at this sort of thing.)

He sighed internally.

Part of him really wanted to help Riley and Bozer get their acts together.

(It would be really, really nice for all of them to be happy and in love, after all.)

The rest of him knew that it probably wasn't the right thing to do.

A, he'd probably mess it up somehow.

(His track record was not the best. His attempts to help Jack and Riley properly reconcile in the first couple of months of their renewed relationship had actually made it worse.)

B, he wasn't convinced Bozer was actually ready to jump into another serious relationship.

C, it was Bozer and Riley's business, and while he admitted he'd done some nudging with Jack and Diane, he'd been nowhere near Riley or Bozer's levels of _Parent-Trap_ -ing. Advice, encouragement, that was the level of involvement he thought was appropriate. Any more was getting too involved in people's private business.

He decided to let them be, for now.

If this got ridiculous…then he'd re-evaluate.

* * *

 **FOUR MONTHS, SIXTEEN DAYS LATER**

 **(HEY, MAC'S A FAN OF THE SLOW BUILD)**

 **(JACK AND DIANE ARE TRYING TO LET GO)**

 **(WHAT DID YOU EXPECT?)**

 **RILEY'S RESIDENCE**

 **LA**

* * *

Almost nose-to-nose on her couch (they'd gotten super-competitive during a round of _Halo),_ Bozer and Riley stared at each other for a long, long, long moment, neither of them quite willing to move that last, tiny bit, to jump off that cliff, hand in hand.

They'd both felt it, the last few months, felt it more and more lately. That ever-growing closeness, that ever-growing comfort, that feeling of _rightness,_ of deep-in-your-bones contentment. And yet, at that same time, that ever-growing tension, that ever-growing spark.

It'd been slowly building, and it felt solid and warm and just _right._

Like maybe, just maybe, the sort of thing that could end with telling your grandkids the story in armchairs in front of the fire, holding hands in the way that was considered so adorable in old people.

And then, they both moved at once…which led to them bumping noses, rather hard, triggering a round of swearing, and then fits of laughter.

Once they'd calmed down, Bozer just turned to her and smirked, squeezing her hand (when had he taken it?).

'Second time's the charm?'

Riley laughed, and leaned over and kissed him, then pulled back and smirked.

'The saying's _third_ time's the charm, Boze.'

And she leaned over and kissed him again.

(Bozer totally understood how pedantic could be really, really annoying.)

(He was Mac's BFF. They lived together.)

(But at that moment, he'd never been so glad of pedantic in his life.)

* * *

 **TWO YEARS LATER**

 **LA COUNTY CLERK**

 **LA**

* * *

Grinning, Jack (in his best suit) and Diane (in an elegant blue cocktail dress) walked hand in hand down the courthouse steps, followed by Mac and Bozer (in suits but no ties) and Beth and Riley (the former in a pretty pink cocktail dress, the latter in a jewel-green one).

The newlyweds stopped in front of Jack's Shelby Cobra, which had a _Just Married_ sign attached to the back (in a way that would not leave a single mark on Jack's precious car, of course).

They turned to the two younger couples, brows quirked. Mac simply offered up a smirk with the tiniest hint of sheepishness in it, while Bozer gestured as if to say that they couldn't _not_ have done it. Riley just beamed at her mom and now-official-stepdad, and Beth smiled and raised a shoulder a little sheepishly.

The two of them grinned and shook their heads, fondly exasperated, and Jack opened the passenger-side door for his bride, before getting in the driver's seat himself.

Mac, Beth, Bozer and Riley waved as Jack and Diane departed for their honeymoon, and as they disappeared from sight, a sweet-looking old lady who'd witnessed the whole thing smiled knowingly at them.

'Who's next?'

* * *

 **ONE YEAR AFTER THAT**

 **BOZER AND RILEY'S RESIDENCE**

 **LA**

* * *

'…What do you think about this one? Is it too lemony? It is too lemony, isn't it? Here, try this one, it's pina colada! And this one's toffee, and we got mojito here…'

Bozer thrust several cake samples at his fiancée, who dutifully took a little bite of each, then shrugged.

'They're all delicious, Boze.'

He looked completely and utterly aghast. And also slightly manic.

Definitely more than slightly manic, actually.

'But which one is _perfect_? It has to be perfect, Riley! Perfect!'

He dashed off to make some other minute modification to one of the cake recipes.

(Bozer was baking their wedding cake. Riley was starting to think that this attempt to save money – non-courthouse-weddings were expensive - was a bad idea.)

(A Very Bad Idea.)

She shook her head, with much exasperated fondness.

(More exasperation at that moment.)

She really should have guessed that Bozer would be a total Groomzilla. He had the last time, after all.

Riley got up, walked over to her fiancé and removed his hand from his whisk gently, and channelled Mac as best as she could.

'Boze, it's not going to go perfectly. Stuff is going to go wrong. But you know what? No-one is going to care. _We're_ not going to care, and that's the important part…'

* * *

 **THREE MONTHS AFTER THAT**

 **RECEPTION VENUE THAT DOES REALLY GREAT FRUIT TARTS**

 **(THEY'RE PRACTICALLY PIES!)**

 **LA**

* * *

Jack stood up and clinked his spoon on his champagne glass to get everyone's attention. As the room fell silent, he grinned and spoke.

'Hello, for those few of you who haven't had the pleasure of meeting me, I'm Jack, Mac's Best Man.'

Bozer, sitting next to Jack, stood up and spoke.

'And I'm Bozer, Mac's Best Best Man.' Jack shot him a look, and Bozer looked a little sheepish, raising his hands. 'Okay, okay, _other_ Best Man.' Jack looked placated, and Bozer continued. 'If you're wondering how perfect I think Beth is for my BFF, let me tell you a story.' He paused for dramatic effect. 'When they first got together, I thought my crazy-mad-scientist-genius-puppy had gone and pulled a Dr Frankenstein and Frankenstein-ed her into existence.'

Jack chipped in.

'I still reckon that's totally possible by the way. As our boy likes to say, impossible isn't a scientific term…'

* * *

 **ONE YEAR, FOUR MONTHS AFTER THAT**

 **MACGYVER FAMILY RESIDENCE**

 **LA**

* * *

As they finished assembling a change table (modified, of course, to go with the self-rocking, fire-, earthquake- and bullet-proof cradle that also played lullabies that Mac had made, as well as the solar-powered bottle warmer and satellite-phone baby monitor), Jack, Bozer and Mac wiped the sweat from their brows (assembling baby furniture was hard work, especially when there were as many parts as Mac had put in the stuff for his unborn son – he was directing, Jack and Bozer were really just labour), before the blonde motioned towards the kitchen and living room.

'I definitely owe you two a couple of nice, cold beers…'

'Hell yeah, son!'

Bozer pointed at the blonde.

'Help me out with building all of mine in a couple of months, and _then_ we'll call it square.'

Mac chuckled, and nodded.

'Of course, I promise, Boze.'

They walked out of Mac's former bedroom (he and Beth had moved into the master after Bozer had moved in with Riley) into the living room, where Beth and Riley were sitting on the couch.

Both women were clearly, obviously pregnant. Beth's belly looked substantially bigger, since she was about two months further along, and also because she was so small and Mac, although not really a big man, being lean and not unusually tall, had apparently been on the big side as a newborn. Both of them were eating what looked and smelled like sardines on vanilla ice-cream.

Jack made a face and looked at their bowls.

'Seriously? And you criticize _my_ eating habits?'

Riley glared at him ferociously as if she'd punch him if she could reach and/or could get up more easily. Beth narrowed her eyes at him fiercely.

Jack gulped, and turned to Mac and Bozer.

'Next time, you two gotta make sure they're not both knocked up at once. Both of 'em pregnant is _way_ too scary.' The glares intensified. Bozer and Mac stepped away and raised their hands, Bozer gulping, wide-eyed, and shaking his head frantically, obviously washing their hands of anything Jack said. Diane strode over from the kitchen, and slapped her husband's arm and shot him a _look._ He just held up his hands. 'Uh…I didn't say anything, you guys didn't hear anything, right? Just Ol' Jack rambling…'

* * *

 **MATERNITY WARD**

 **CHMC-LA**

 **LA**

* * *

A very exhausted, but extremely proud and happy Riley, and an equally-proud-and-happy but far less exhausted Bozer grinned at the precious bundle in her arms.

Jack, Diane, Mac and Beth, holding her and Mac's two-month-old, all filed into the room, all smiling widely, though Mac and Beth also looked exhausted.

Bozer grinned even wider, every inch the proud papa, and Riley passed him their precious, curly-haired bundle.

He got up and carried her carefully over to the rest of their family.

'Hedy, meet your Grandpa Jack and your Grandma Diane, and Uncle Mac and Auntie Beth and Cousin Nick. Everyone, meet Hedy Diana Bozer.'

* * *

AN: Yeah, really fluffy, overly-happy happy ending…but hey, it's a fairytale retelling! Special shout-out to Wynona Rose, who really wanted baby MacGyvers in _Give Your Heart a Chance!_ (I only sorta did that here, but at some point, I'm sure I'll write something with more babies in it…)

Nicholas Harry MacGyver (Nick to most, Mini-Mac to his Uncle Bozer, named for Tesla and Mac's grandfather) and Maria Elizabeth MacGyver (named after Marie Curie and Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman to get a medical degree in the USA, and sort-of her mother) are my headcanon Mac/Beth babies. Hedy Diana Bozer (named after Hedy Lamarr and Diane Davis) is the only currently-existing child of Bozer and Riley's that I've ever created in my stories. In this AU at least (she's an only child in a couple of my other AUs), she'll also wind up having a little sister, Ada Jacqueline Bozer (named after Ada Lovelace and Jack). Yes, I went to this much effort to name the kids…my brain is weird, and I like aggressively happy happy endings – real life can be really depressing, so why not give people great happiness in fiction, since you can?

The story of exactly how Mac and Beth broke the kitchen sink (titled _The Kitchen Sink –_ yeah, creative, I know!) will post tomorrow. It's fluffy and silly and romantic (at least, I hope it is…) with lots of bad science flirting and Mac-being-distracted-by-science…until he realizes he's not that kind of crazy!


End file.
